Lost and Forgotten
by TheCatWithTheHat
Summary: She's lost. He's forgotten. But even though she's forgotten him, he hasn't forgotten her. And he'll do anything to get her back, no matter what the cost. Plus, if revenge for her death is included, it's a bonus. T for occasional lauguage.IchiHime Complete
1. Dog Days Are Over

**A/N: Hi! I'm just writing this for the fun of it! So I hope everyone enjoys it!**

**Disclaimer: All Bleach characters and property belong to Tite Kubo and Viz Media. **_**Dog Days Are Over **_**belongs to "Florence + The Machine" and Universal Island Records.**

**!**

_Happiness hit her like a train on a track…Coming towards her, stock-still, no turning back…The dog days are over, the dog days are done. Can you hear the horses? 'Cause here they come._

Orihime closed her eyes and leaned back. The water around her floated up to her shoulders, covering her body with warmth. It was nice to be in the bath again; Rangiku had come visiting and had stayed a week, and the woman had a bad habit of coming in the bathroom at the worst times. Plus, Orihime had gotten a fever after she left, and had been in bed for a few days.

She checked her watch. Tatsuki was due here to drop off her homework in half an hour. Orihime figured she could relax and then do her washing and still have time to get out and ready. She sighed...

...

...

...

RING.

Dang it, she'd fallen asleep. "Coming!" Orihime called, pulling the plug in the bottom of the bath and stepping out. She wrung out her hair and wrapped herself up in a towel, opening the bathroom door while the bath gurgled behind her. _The water goes counter-clockwise here,_ she mused, twisting open the door. _I heard it goes clockwise in America! I wonder -?_

Her eyes widened. Standing in front of her, instead of Tatsuki's soft curves, loose red bow tie, and wide black eyes, was a wide, rocky chest. A slice of skin showed where the collar gaped open. Orihime's wondering gaze followed the slice upward, where it was met with spiky orange hair and warm brown eyes.

"Hi, Orihime," Ichigo said.

"K-Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime gasped. She clutched the towel tighter around her chest. Ichigo's eyes flickered downward toward the movement and then his eyes flashed back up to hers. His hand tightened around the doorframe. "W-what are you doing here?"

He held out some books that were tucked under his other arm. "Tatsuki got sick. So she asked me to bring this to you." He hesitated. "Um... I can come back later, if you want..."

She forced a smile. "No! No, it's fine, Kurosaki-kun. Come in."

He eyed her feet. Water was running down her legs and pooling around her toes. "Are you sure?"

She smiled even bigger, tilting her head. "Ab-so-lutely," she said. "Come in."

When he didn't move, she looked at him. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked. His face was bright red and his eyes were squeezed closed. The hand on the doorframe was clenched around it so hard that the wood looked like it was about to break.

"Your towel..." he squeezed out between clenched teeth.

Orihime looked down. Her towel had slipped down, revealing far more cleavage than she would ever reveal in public. "Oh!" she gasped, and hitched it up to cover herself. "I'm sorry, Kurosaki-kun!" she apologized, turning red herself. She stepped back. "You can open your eyes now."

Tentatively, Ichigo's eyes opened. His face still flamed red. "How about you go get changed," he choked. He sounded like he was in pain.

"Are you okay?" Orihime said, peering at his face.

"Yes...just, please, put some clothes on," he gurgled. "I'll make some tea."

"Okay," said Orihime, and all but fled the room.

She giggled in her room as she dropped her towel to the floor and pulled out some clothes. Ichigo Kurosaki was in her house! She choked back a little scream. Ichigo Kurosaki was making tea in her kitchen! She pulled on her sweatpants. "Ichigo's here!" she whispered to herself, pulling her shirt on over her head. She gave a little twirl with her arms above her head and crashed into her bedside table. Merrily pushing herself up, she skipped out to the kitchen to find the kettle on the stove and Ichigo with his head in the sink.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo pulled his head out of the sink, water dripping off of his spiky hair. "Oh, hi, Orihime," he said, his cheeks turning red.

"I have a bathtub if you want to take a bath," Orihime said. "I was just in there, but -"

Ichigo's eyed bulged, and he turned and plunged his head back into the sink. Orihime waited, scratching the back of her neck until Ichigo came up, gasping.

"Or you could just go outside," she said, gesturing out of the window. Rain was pouring down. "I mean, it's easier than putting your head in the sink, you know?"

Ichigo blushed even redder. He grabbed her dishtowel and dried his face off with it. "I'm sorry, Orihime," he said sheepishly. "Want some tea?"

"Sure thing," Orihime said cheerfully. Ichigo grabbed the teakettle and some teabags, sliding into a chair across from Orihime. He grinned and plunked the teabag into the water, flipping a teabag to Orihime. She reached out to catch it, but it glanced off of her fingertips and fell to the ground. She bent down to retrieve it, and when she came back, Ichigo had moved his chair around the table and had the books spread out on it.

"Ready to learn?" he asked her.

_I don't know if I can...you're sitting so close!_ Orihime's brain told him. But her mouth said, "Sure thing, Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo frowned. "My name is Ichigo, Orihime," he told her.

"But I can't call you that!" she said. "It's so formal!"

"We're friends, Inoue-san," he said, noticing the furrow that appeared between her eyebrows at the term. "See? If you call me Ichigo, I promise...you can stay my Hime."

Orihime's heart stopped, and her eyes widened. Her mouth trembled. Ichigo laughed.

"Here." He grabbed her hand, and with a blue pen, wrote IK WAS HERE. She stared at her tingling palm. "See? The "I" comes first."

Wordless, she nodded.

"Okay! Do you want to study now?" he asked her cheerfully.

"Alright...Ichigo," she said breathlessly.

"Now you're getting it. Okay, first up is math." He glanced at Orihime. "Are you paying attention?"

"Oh! Of course!"

But after half an hour, it was clear that she wasn't. Most of the page she was supposed to be solving equations on was covered with doodles. Ichigo finally laid down his pencil and rubbed his forehead.

"You want to take a break?" he asked her patiently.

Orihime, who had been in the middle of drawing, jumped. "Sure!" she said, covering her drawing with her hand. "Let's go for a walk, okay?"

"Sure thing," Ichigo said, grabbing his Shinigami badge. He clipped it to his belt. "Let's go to the park, get fresh air...and when we come back, maybe you'll be more focused." He smiled.

"Okay," she said. She was having a hard time breathing. _Do I have asthma?_ she wondered. _Oh no! But maybe...maybe I'll collapse? And Ichigo will save me, and then he'll-_ She cut herself off before she could go any farther. _Don't be stupid. That'll never happen._

She blinked. Ichigo's hand was waving in front of her face. "Gathered enough wool?" he asked her.

She looked confused. "Huh?"

"Never mind." Ichigo jammed on his shoes. "Let's go!"

A few minutes later they were at the park. The air was wet and sweet, and the grass was sparkling. Orihime giggled, jumping on the puddles, while Ichigo looked on with a small smile on his face. They came to a bench and sat on it, not minding the damp wood.

"Ichigo," Orihime said quietly, turning to him, "I-"

**HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!**

Ichigo grinned apologetically at Orihime. "Come on. Let's kill this sucker." He pressed his badge to his chest, the human falling back while the Shinigami leapt forward. Orihime pressed her hands to her hairpins and summoned her friends.

It didn't take long to find the Hollow. It was huge. Storming across the park, knocking things over, roaring: yep, that was it.

"SHINIGAMI," it roared, catching sight of Ichigo. He pulled out Zangetsu defiantly. Behind him, Orihime readied Tsubaki. "WHO ARE YOU?"

"I never tell great big ugly Hollows like you," Ichigo shouted back.

"Who are YOU calling ugly, you great big carrot top?" the Hollow shouted back at Ichigo.

"You! You with the pig nose and the big ass mask!" retorted Ichigo.

"PIG NOSE?" shouted the Hollow. "You'll pay for that, Shinigami!"

The Hollow swiped at Ichigo, who _shunpo_'ed out of the way. He reappeared at the Hollow's head. Roaring, he took a swipe, aiming for the head of the Hollow-

_-who ducked._

_What?_

The head ducked, but the claw kept moving. Before she could react, it tore through Orihime's shirt, straight into her chest.

"ORIHIME!"

No. No!

"ORIHIME!" Ichigo called again, desperately. "Getsuga Tenshō!" he yelled. A band of reishi sliced through the air toward the hollow, who sidestepped it gleefully.

"I'll be seeing you, Shinigami," it cackled, and pulled aside the sky, stepping through.

Ichigo _shunpo_'ed to Orihime's side. Blood was cascading from her chest, running into the rainwater on the sidewalk. Her eyes fluttered.

"Orihime -"

"Ichigo," she murmured. "It's too late."

"But the Sôten Kishun-"

"It's too late," Orihime repeated. "The fairies are gone now. I just wanted to say..."

"No," Ichigo said. Frantic, he laid his hands on her chest, trying to stop the blood. Why couldn't he open the Senkai-mon? Maybe Unohana...

"...I love you, Ichigo."

Her eyes closed. Ichigo, still frantic, pushed his fingers over her heart.

There was no pulse.

No-

He put his hand on her wrist. Nothing.

No!

NO!

He grabbed her head and kissed her mouth, hard. He kissed her again and again, his desperation choking him, blinding him. But Orihime's warm, sweet breath didn't breathe back on him. Her chest was still.

For the first time in six years, Ichigo Kurosaki cried. He sobbed. His tears landed like liquid diamond on her already cooling cheek. And it was quite a few minutes before he thought about the people who would be sure to gather.

He stood, wiping his eyes. Stepping back into his body, he picked up hers. The blood on her shirt was still wet, staining his uniform. But he didn't care.

Spotting something shining on the ground, he bent down to see. It was her hairpins.

"Sôten Kishun," he whispered. But the pins just gleamed dully back at him. Either it only responded to Orihime, or she was right and the fairies had died along with her.

With the hairpins in his hand, and Orihime in his arms, he turned his head to the sky.

"ORIHIME!"

**Okay, so that's the first chapter. R&R if you liked it!**

**-TheCatWithTheHat**


	2. Slipped Away

**A/N:** **Here's chapter 2, lovelies. I'm going to respond to reviews here, 'cause it makes me feel cool. And all sorts of cool people do it. **

**Disclaimer: All characters and property belong to Tite Kubo and Viz Media. **_**Slipped Away **_**belongs to Avril Lavigne and RCA/JIVE music group. **

**Nypsy:**** Okay yes, I know there are all sorts of rules and stuff for that. But it's part of the story. Just wait, everything will become clear.**

**Firework's Feelings: ****I know, I know. (joins in sniffing) I knew it was part of the storyline, but I almost wimped out. (shaky smile)**

**Okay, here we go.**

_I hope you can hear me, 'cause I remember it clearly: the day you slipped away, was the day I found it won't be the same. I've had my wake up – wont' you wake up? I keep asking why. And I can't take it, it wasn't fake. It happened, you passed by…I miss you._

She wakes.

Where she is, is unclear to her. She looks up. Above her is a blue sky. Clouds move slowly across it. It's partially blocked by tall buildings. A small cat leaps around by her feet.

She sits up slowly, flexing her hands. A blue scribble is written on her palm: IK WAS HERE. Who is IK? she wonders. Is IK me?

Who am I?

For the first time, she feels a small stab of panic. She searches her brain. Comes up empty-handed. What is her name? She cannot remember. How old? How did she get here?

She stands.

Walking, at least, she remembers. One foot in front of the other. She makes it to the end of the alley before she starts feeling a little bit dizzy. She rests her hand on the wall, and then looks out in front of her.

She's in some sort of village. There are a few people who are wearing these loose black jumpsuit things that could be mistaken for dresses. All of these people are carrying swords of some kind. Others are wearing shorter tunics, or rags. She looks down at her own clothes: a boxy T-shirt, sweatpants, thin-fitting shoes. She pulls out her T-shirt, reading the label upside down. It reads KARAKURA HIGH SCHOOL. What is Karakura? she wonders. Is it a mascot? Is it a person? Maybe it's a town. But a town where? What country?

She scratches the back of her neck. A few pieces of hair come away with her fingers. She looks at the strands, then pulls some of her hair in front of her face. It's auburn. Long, too. Almost to her waist. She decides to find a mirror so she can see what the rest of her face looks like.

"Hello?"

She jumps at the voice. Looking around her, she sees a girl, a few years younger than her own age (whatever that is), and about two feet shorter. The girl has short hair with beads in it, and it's red. Blood red. She has square - framed glasses and a small, turned up nose. She's outfitted in a purple tunic tied with a saffron sash, and her feet are bare and dirty.

"What's your name?" asks the girl. "I'm Kaori."

She shrugs. "I don't know. I don't remember."

"Huh?" asks Kaori. "What do you mean, you don't remember?" Kaori gets a little bit closer. "How can you not remember?"

She backs up a little, away from Kaori. "I just…don't. I woke up here in this alley. I don't remember anything before that."

Kaori draws up short. "Huh? What do you mean? What about the _konso_, do you remember that?"

She knits her eyebrows. "_Konso_? What's that?"

Kaori relaxes a little bit. "Oh, I guess you were just a normal human. Still, though, it's weird that the Shinigami wouldn't have told you what was happening…you know," Kaori adds, seeing her confused look. "The Shinigami is the one in the black robes like the ones walking around here, the one who stuck the hilt of their sword through your head."

She shakes her head, confused. "I don't remember anything like that happening."

"What?" snaps Kaori. "How did you die, anyway?"

She is shocked, and now the panic is back. "I'm dead?" she squeaks. "That…"

"Yes, you're dead. You're in the Soul Society, aren't you?"

She looks around. "Well, I wouldn't know anything about that. I don't even remember how I…died. The last thing I remember is…" She swallows. "Waking up. Before that…"

"So you don't remember anything," muses Kaori. "Well, we need to name you, first of all. I mean, you can't go walking around without one. How about…Sadako?"

"Okay," says Sadako. Nothing stirs within her at the name. Is thiswhat her name was in life? Sadako? She cannot remember.

"And you should come and stay with me," Kaori says. "Just until you get your memory back." She tugs on Sadako's hand, her beads shaking. Sadako is not sure when this will happen, if ever.

"Um…" Sadako says, slowly following Kaori as she drags her along. "Um…I don't really know if…"

"Oh, it's fine," Kaori says. "I live with my mom and my brother. We're not really related. We just all died around the same time, and so…" She leans in. "But don't bring that up," she whispers into Sadako's ear. "Mom likes to pretend that me and Ronin are really her kids, so we play along."

Feeling overwhelmed, Sadako decides to just do what this girl wants. For the time being. And who knows? Maybe she will get her memory back. It could happen.

Kaori tugs Sadako through the confusing walls in the Soul Society. Sadako searches in her mind for anything…anything at all. But she can't recall a thing.

There's nothing.

Nothing at all.

**!**

"URAHARA! CUSTOMER FOR YOU!" Renji shouted from the back room, leaning on his broom. From the front room, he heard Jinta shout.

"It's not a customer!"

Too late. Urahara already emerged from the underground training room. "How can I help you?" he called, snapping out his fan and striding cheerfully to the front room. Hearing Ururu's "Oh, no," Renji dropped his broom and ran after him.

He stopped short. It was Ichigo. But it sure didn't look like the Ichigo he knew. This Ichigo was wearing his school uniform, the top half of which was bloody and gory. His eyes were rimmed with red. And cradled in his arms was Orihime Inoue.

"Oh," Urahara murmured, the smirk wiped from his face. "Oh, dear."

Ichigo didn't say anything. Renji was frozen in the doorway, his hand clenched so hard around the sliding door that it snapped. Ichigo didn't even blink at the noise. His eyes seemed to be frozen open, wide and staring. The whites were pink and bloodshot.

"What's wrong?" called Rukia's voice. No one answered. She came pounding into the room, pulling up short when she saw Ichigo. Renji could almost see the wheels turning in her brain.

"O-Orihime?" she whispered weakly.

Ichigo's head fell forward and he dropped to his knees. It was completely silent in the room. Renji swayed a bit on his feet, and his fingers found Rukia's shoulder and squeezed tightly. Rukia swayed with him, her fingers clutching over his. "Orihime?" she repeated again, dully. "O…ri…hi…me…?"

Liquid diamond splashed onto Orihime's cheek. _Ichigo was crying? Ichigo Kurosaki was crying? _Somehow, those words didn't fit together. Renji stumbled backward as Rukia hit the floor, her body sagging.

"Okay. Okay. Everyone calm down," Urahara said. He leaned forward and slid his arms under Orihime's back. Ichigo's finger's tightened their hold. Urahara tugged again.

"Let go of her," Urahara said.

"No."

It was whispered, barely heard. But then Ichigo came alive. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" he shouted, standing. His body twisted and his eyes burned. "GET AWAY FROM ORIHIME!"

"Tessai!" Urahara yelled. The big man lumbered up behind Ichigo and chopped the back of his neck with the side of his hand. Ichigo croaked and gurgled and fell to the floor, Orihime rolling limply from his arms. A trail of blood smeared the floor that Renji had carefully swept a few minutes earlier. Orihime's hair covered her face.

Kisuke picked her up, closing her eyes with his finger.

"Where are her hairpins?" came Ururu's voice.

Everyone's gaze shot to her head. The blue hairpins were gone.

"We'll ask Ichigo when he wakes up," Urahara said gently. "Renji, please take care of him. Tessai, accompany me to the back room, if you please. Jinta, please prepare beds for Ichigo and Miss Rukia. Ururu, please contact misters Uryū and Sado. Now." Kisuke padded out of the room, Tessai following him. Renji scooped up Ichigo, slinging him over his shoulders. He went through the mess he'd made of the door and into the back room.

Laying Ichigo down on the table, he unbuttoned his bloody shirt and tossed it aside. Grabbing his "Red Pineapple" shirt, he sponged off Ichigo's chest and slipped the t-shirt on. Then he carried him to the bed Jinta had made up for him and put him in.

"Sweet dreams, Kurosaki," he muttered, then went back for Rukia, sliding her in next to Ichigo. No sooner had he pulled the covers up over her than she opened her eyes, sitting up slowly.

"Renji?" she said, her tongue slowly forming the word. Her large eyes met Renji's small ones. They filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," he grated out, his throat feeling like gravel. He held out his arms, and Rukia fell into them, her back convulsing with tears.

_We're trained never to cry. Crying shows only weakness. _But he had to admit, Rukia should be allowed to cry at a time like this. He patted her back awkwardly, aware of wetness spreading over his chest where Rukia's face was resting. He pulled her into his lap and put his arms around her, holding her as her body spasmed with grief.

The door slid open, revealing the Quincy. "What's going on?" he barked. Chad flanked him.

Renji met their eyes. "There was an accident," he said slowly, his tongue swollen. "Orihime… Orihime didn't…" He swallowed. "She didn't make it."

Both Chad and Uryū's eyes widened. Chad's hand tightened on the door, and the thin wood snapped. _Another door down._

"That wasn't your idea of a joke, was it?" Uryū gasped.

"I wish it was," Renji murmured. Rukia gave a shuddering gasp in his arms. Chad's Adam's Apple went up and down violently as he swallowed hard.

"When?" he asked, in that endearing way of his. That is, with the bare minimum leaving his mouth.

"I don't know," Renji said. "Ichigo turned up about seven minutes ago. That's all I know." He rested his head on top of Rukia's closing his eyes. "We'll have to see if we can't find out some more from Ichigo when he wakes up."

**!**

"Lieutenant Matsumoto! Captain Hitsugaya! There is an urgent message here from Urahara Kisuke in the World of the Living!"

Rangiku turned her head carelessly. "Oh, what is it now?" she drawled. Tôshirô sighed and put down his pen. He was swamped in paperwork, as usual.

"It's top priority!" the messenger urged. "Here." He gave Rangiku a piece of rolled up paper and vanished.

"Hm. What could this be?" Rangiku mused. She unrolled the paper and stared at the four words printed in big black letters. "Oh no. Oh, my goodness!" She clutched at her chest, the paper shaking in her hand. "What? This can't be!"

"What is it, Matsumoto?" Tôshirô asked her.

Her hands shaking, she gave her captain the paper. Her wide blue eyes were filling rapidly, and her lower lip was trembling. Alarmed, Tôshirô looked down at the page.

**ORIHIME INOUE IS DEAD.**

**!**

Groaning, Ichigo sat up. He looked around.

"Zangetsu?"

It was the first time he'd woken in his inner world without being met by either Zangetsu or his Hollow. But now he didn't see anyone.

It was also the first time that it had been raining in his inner world while he was there. The rain fell in sheets, plastering his hair to his head. His eyelashes made triangles in front of his face, and his uniform stuck to his body. He stood slowly.

"Hello?" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Zangetsu? ZANGETSU?"

He looked around. Something moved down at the end of the building. He ran toward it, his socks slipping on the slick surface of the building. _Where are my sandals? _he wondered. He tripped and slid the rest of the way down the building, stopping at a pair of black socks outfitted with white sandals. He looked up.

"Hello, Ichigo," his Hollow said gloomily.

Another first: Ichigo couldn't recall his Hollow being anything but elated to see him. He knit his eyebrows at his alter ego. "What's your problem?" he asked.

The Hollow raised his eyebrows at Ichigo. "What do you mean, _what's your problem? _Can't you see? It's raining." He gestured around.

"Yeah, I've noticed." Ichigo got up. His Hollow's yellow eyes followed the movement. He sighed and shivered.

"I hate the rain," said the Hollow. "Both me and Zangetsu hate the rain. It's so cold. Dismal."

"Orihime…always loved the rain…" Ichigo murmured. His face tightened. "Where _is_ Zangetsu, anyway?"

"Sulking, I imagine," said the Hollow, shaking his head. Water flew from his spiky hair. "He always did like that woman of yours."

"Huh?" Ichigo said, confused.

"You know." The Hollow looked angry. "I mean the one that _you let die."_

Ichigo attacked almost before the Hollow could do anything, but he brought up the white Zangetsu in time. He knocked Ichigo's blade away and sighed, sitting down on the rain-soaked surface.

"The worst part is…" he murmured. "Once it stops raining, it takes _forever_ for this thing to dry." He poked at his clothes. "I have to sit around in wet underwear for _days_."

Unbidden, an image of his Hollow sitting around in his underwear rose in Ichigo's mind. He gagged and forced it down.

"I don't have time for this," Ichigo said angrily. "I need to get back." He sheathed Zangetsu and disappeared.

"See ya around, Ichigo," the Hollow said gloomily, as the real Zangetsu appeared before him.

"…Sorry," the Hollow apologized.

Zangetsu looked off into the distance, his glasses splattered with raindrops. Far away, thunder rumbled. "You made him mad," Zangetsu murmured.

"It's a particular specialty of mine," murmured the Hollow. He picked at his sandals. "How could we have let her die?" he groaned.

"I don't know," murmured Zangetsu. "Let the kingdom grieve…Our queen is dead."

**R&R?**


	3. Bleed

**A/N: WOW. I'm on a roll here, folks. Happiness. **

**Disclaimer: All Bleach characters and property belong to Tite Kubo and Viz Media. **_**Bleed **_**belongs to "Hot Chelle Rae" and the RCA/JIVE music group. (unfortunately)**

**himelove22: ****Yeah sorry about that. I don't really like the name either, but you know the story of Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes? Well, somehow the name seems fitting. **

**(If anyone doesn't know, **_**Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes **_**is a (true) story about a girl who was diagnosed with leukemia after the bomb was dropped at Hiroshima. There was a legend that said that if someone who was sick folded 1000 paper cranes they would get one wish, so she did that. She ended up folding 643, I think. She died. There's a statue of her in Japan, somewhere, don't know where. Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone.)**

**Saga****: Okay…thanks?**

**nypsy:**** Haha, well, I don't do what's expected. (None of the characters in the SS were near doors when they got the news) Tatsuki is gonna be in this chapter, never fear. Yes, the three humans will (hopefully) be minor characters. And the **_**konso**_** thing is part of the story…just wait, you'll see.**

**whitechan16: ****Thank you! My goal is to make people emotional: laughing, crying, ect. So I see I've accomplished that. That's a very nice compliment, it means a lot to me. Okay, to the story!**

_I feel like I'm drowning in ice water – my lips have turned a shade of blue. I'm frozen with this fear that you may disappear before I've given you the truth. I bleed my heart out on this paper for you, so you can see what I can't say…I'm dying here! 'Cause I can't say what I want to!... I bleed my heart out just for you._

Sadako allows Kaori to drag her out of the alley and into the square/plaza/marketplace thing. She's not entirely sure what to call it. Did she have anything like this where she lived while she was alive? she wonders. She searches for a nagging feeling that tells her if she did or not…but there's nothing. She can't find a thing.

Kaori pulls her across the square, through the thronging crowd. Sadako attempts to follow the younger girl as she expertly slips in and out of the people, but her…well, she doesn't know quite what to call them. But they don't exactly make moving through tight spaces easy. She gasps as she loses her hold on Kaori's hand and the girl disappears.

Sadako falls to her knees, panting. Someone knocks into her and she curls up in the fetal position, shaking. The next thing she knows, the collar of her Karakura High School shirt has been grabbed and she is lifted into the air, squealing.

"Hello, my sweet," says a growly voice. Sadako follows the hand on her collar down to see a man with snaggle teeth and crooked eyes leering at her. "My, aren't you pretty. What's your name?"

He seems to be talking to the…things on her chest. Sadako draws in a breath, about to tell him where he can put her name, when all of a sudden she's in a heap in the ground. Her eyes travel upwards slowly to see Kaori standing with her foot on the man, her beads clattering in the wind of the people passing.

"Get up!" she urges Sadako, who does so earnestly. Kaori stomps on the man's head, and he groans. "Let's go!" she says, grabbing Sadako's wrist this time. They hurry off into the crowd, Sadako trying to stay stable on her feet.

Kaori, sensing that Sadako needs a second, pulls her into an alley. "Were you really out of shape in life?" she asks suspiciously.

"No…" Sadako gasps. "I'm just…trying to get my bearings…"

Kaori _humph_s. "Well, fine. But just warning you, you better get your bearings back fast, 'cause if you don't, you'll get trampled. Here in Rukongai, it's survival of the fittest. If you're not able to keep up, you'll get killed."

"I thought I was already dead," Sadako says, confused.

Kaori rolls her eyes. "I mean that technically. Not literally."

"Well, what _will_ happen, then?"

"Let's hope you never find out." Kaori takes hold of Sadako's wrist. "Ready?"

Without letting Sadako answer, she takes off. Sadako gasps as her feet are pulled from underneath her. She stumbles, then regains her footing, running after Kaori. Her balance is back; she discovers that she is actually in excellent shape. Hm. Maybe she wasn't a couch potato in life, then. Hopefully not.

Then, with a small tug, Sadako flies free of the crowd. She and Kaori are suddenly running through a much more sparse area. She glances behind her to see the pulsing crowd, like a hive of bees. The place they had come through had already closed.

"WHERE ARE WE GOING?" she says, pelting after Kaori.

"MY HOUSE, STUPID!" Kaori yells back. "I TOLD YOU THAT ALREADY!"

Of course she doesn't live in the marketplace. Sadako gently chides herself as Kaori turns down a little lane, the dirt dustier from less people having traveled it. Sadako's shoes slap on the dirt. They run a little ways down it, past a few other little houses, before she turns down the path leading to one. It's identical to the rest. Sadako realizes that if she's going to stay here, she's going to need to spruce it up a bit.

"I'M HOME!" Kaori shouts, pounding on the door. She has to let go of Sadako's wrist to do this, and Sadako takes this chance to rub it, because Kaori's grip is tight for such a little kid. After a few seconds of pounding, someone opens the door. It's a boy. He has his hand out in front of his chest, so that Kaori's next pound falls right into it. This seems like a routine.

His eyes meet Sadako's. He's a little bit taller than her, and seems about her age. He has blood red hair the same color as Kaori's, and it's in a long braid that goes about halfway down his back. His eyes are violet. He's wearing a strange uniform – a white shirt with grayish pants, and he has what looks like a sword strapped to his belt.

"Oh," Kaori says, surprised. "When did you get here?"

The boy smiles down at Kaori. "I've been away for four months, and that's all you can say?" He grins and holds out his arms. A slow smile spreads across Kaori's face, and she gives him a big hug.

"Nice to see you," the boy says. "Who's this?" His eyes meet Sadako's again.

"Um…this is Sadako," Kaori says, pulling free of him. "Sadako, this is Ronin, my brother. He's just back from the Academy. The Shinigami Academy."

Sadako looks confused.

"Is she…did she just…?" Ronin doesn't look away from Sadako as he says this. His violet eyes are studying hers. "I mean, did she just arrive here?"

"Um…"

"What?"

"She doesn't remember anything. Like, where she lived, what her name was, all that." Kaori glances up at Sadako uneasily. "She can't remember _konso_, so…but she has clothes on from the World of the Living…"

"Well." Ronin purses his lips. "We'll have to fix that. Come on in," he says, and leads her into the house.

**!**

About twenty minutes after Uryū and Chad arrived, Ichigo woke up. Renji watched as he slowly opened his eyes, sitting up and looking around. He watched as the memory hit him, and Ichigo let his head fall into his hands.

Rukia had recovered a little bit, but she was still giving up her dignity to be comforted by Renji. She sat curled against his chest, her eyes open and blank, her nose red. Renji's hand rubbed her back, sliding over the smooth material. His chest was still wet from her tears.

Ichigo sat with his arms around himself for a moment. He was shaking slightly. He looked up at Renji.

"She's dead, right?" he said dully.

Renji bit his lip. He didn't want to say it so bluntly, but the look in his eyes was all Ichigo needed for the answer. He wrapped his arms tighter around himself, his eyes closed and his face screwed up in pain. He shook his head slowly.

"Kurosaki!" Uryū barked, sliding open the door with a bang. "Urahara wants to speak with you. So get yourself together."

Renji looked up at Uryū. Despite his harsh tone, the boy looked considerably shaken. By which Renji meant that his glasses had slid down to the tip of his nose and he hadn't even bothered to push them back up. It gave him the skewered appearance of someone who was attempting to imitate their grandmother. Uryū turned and hit the door, then moved over and made it out. "You too, Abarai. Better bring Rukia with you."

None of the three made any signs of moving. It was only when Chad passed by the door and glanced at them, saying, "Come on," that Renji stood, carrying Rukia, since she still seemed to be in shock.

"Come on, Ichigo," he said, gently. "Don't make me carry you, too."

Ichigo stood up slowly, his body creaking. He felt old. Watching Renji slip out with ease, despite the fact that he was carrying Rukia, made him feel even worse.

_I love you, Ichigo._

The words wouldn't leave his head. He couldn't believe that all this time, he'd been completely oblivious to her feelings. It had been right in front of his face the entire time! Her enthusiastic "Hello!" every morning when he walked in the room, without fail; her anxious calls when he missed school; the way she always stood by him, no matter what he thought; how she always cheered for him – no matter if he was injured, or dying, or consumed by a monster – it just made him feel ten thousand times worse. Her desperate "Kurosaki-kun!" always filled his heart with new bravery, desperate not to fail her. The way she looked at him, her eyes filled with emotion - despite the fact that he unknowingly rejected her again and again, she always came back. And that's what killed him.

He stood and slouched out to the meeting.

**!**

Tatsuki sat straight up in bed. Her hands clutched panickedly at the blankets.

_What was that?_

She automatically searched for Orihime's presence. When she didn't find it right away, she began to panic even more. Sweat dotted her brow – she still had a fever – but she didn't care. Orihime needed her!

She leapt out of bed, changing out of her pajamas at light speed. Dashing through the house took nearly all of her energy, and she stumbled at the door, holding onto the doorframe for support. She pressed a hand to her chest and breathed hard.

"Tatsuki!" Her mother came out of the kitchen. "Where do you think you're going? You're still sick. Go back to bed!"

Determination renewed, Tatsuki stood straight. "Orihime needs me!" she said, wrenching open the door. "I'll be back in a minute, okay, Mom?"

Her mother stood helplessly as the door slammed behind Tatsuki, who dashed down the steps and out into the street. All Tatsuki knew was that Orihime had vanished…and she knew Ichigo was behind it.

**!**

"…_konso?"_

"Huh?" Ichigo said, snapping out of yet another Orihime-induced trance. "What?"

Urahara, and everyone else at the table, sighed. "I said, did you perform _konso _on her spirit? Cause if you didn't, she's probably wandering around…wherever it is that it happened. We need to go there right away. And Ichigo…" he said. "It'd be great if you could, you know, tell us…"

Ichigo stood. "No, I didn't. I forgot. I'll go there now."

Everyone stood.

"No, you sit down. I'll go," Renji said. "You've been through enough today."

"You sit, too," Uryū snapped. "Rukia needs you. You should stay with her."

"You can't do _konso. _You're a Quincy," Chad pointed out intelligently. "I'll go."

"You can't do _konso_ either!" Rukia reminded him. _"I'll _go."

"Well!" Urahara said. He snapped his fan together. "All you go, and get out of my shop!"

Four pairs of eyes glared at him. Ichigo stared straight ahead, his eyes blank. All four pairs of eyes turned to look at him, plus Urahara, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu.

"Uh-oh," Jinta whispered loudly. "He must be really sad. He didn't react at all!"

Tessai whapped him on the back of the head. Jinta glared up and the big man. "Fine, be that way," he muttered.

The five filed out of the shop. Ichigo didn't say anything about where they were going, so Renji, the most experienced, took the lead.

"So we don't know where it happened…but she's most likely at the scene or at her house. Since we know the location of one of these places, let's go there first."

Uryū and Renji both glared at Ichigo, whose facial expression did not change in the slightest.

"He's not even scowling," Rukia murmured.

Together, they set off for the apartment. When they got there, it had started raining again. They hurried inside, towing Ichigo along. They opened the door to her apartment, only to discover that someone was already there.

"Who's there?" Rukia called.

Tatsuki appeared from the kitchen. Her face was tight and furious. "What is the meaning of this?" she snapped, thrusting a piece of paper onto Ichigo's chest. He blinked and looked down at it.

What he'd mistaken for doodles on Orihime's page stared back at him. It was a picture of him. His eyes were warm, and there was a small smile on his face. His mouth was slightly open, like he was about to speak. He seemed to be looking right at the person holding the page, like he was speaking to them.

"Did she draw this?" he asked, looking up.

"I don't know!" Tatsuki snapped. "Look on the back!"

Ichigo looked, and then folded up the paper and put it in his pocket before any of the others could see. He seemed unmoved by the drawings.

"Well?" Tatsuki said, getting up in his face. "Where's Orihime?"

Everyone looked at each other, not wanting to be the one to break it to Tatsuki. She looked around, seeing the expressions on everyone's faces. She seemed to wilt a bit. "Where is she?" she said, sounding scared.

Rukia came forward, putting her hand on Tatsuki's shoulder. But Tatsuki's eyes were locked on Ichigo. His eyes, still red, and his blank expression.

She stepped forward and slapped Ichigo across the face. Ichigo's head snapped to the side, but he didn't do anything. He didn't even look up.

"Bastard!" Tatsuki said, sounding like she'd lost her mind. "Why?"

She pushed Ichigo. He stumbled and fell on his back, making no move to stand. She kicked his side, over and over, her chest heaving. Sobs fell from her mouth. Ichigo made no move to stop her, his body nudging with each connection she made to his body.

"Why?" she repeated. "…why?"

**Okay, so that's it :) hope you liked it!**

**R&R!**


	4. If I Die Young

**A/N: Okay, so here's the new chapter. I'm sorry that it took so long, but I had a small moment of insanity when I decided to start two more stories on top of the three others that I already had. So right now I have five in-progress stories as well as one that I'm helping my cyber-friend out with. So please forgive me if I'm not right on top of it all the time. :-|**

**Disclaimer: All Bleach characters and property belong to Tite Kubo and Viz Media; **_**If I Die Young**_** belongs to "The Band Perry" and Nashville Republic.**

**nypsy: ****Yeah, I agree, poor Ichi! You will see what happens! It will be good! I promise!**

**himelove22:**** Yeah, poor Tatsuki as well T-T I cry at my own stories… very sad I know :')**

**:**** (Um yeah someone reviewed without a name…like, what? But I'll still reply to your review…:)) Well I'm glad that my story is good enough to get a review out of you, thanks. It means a lot that you'd take the time even if you don't put a name down.**

**Chuain:**** I'm sorry if you don't like Tatsuki. If you really feel that strongly about it then I suggest you stop reading this fic. She's a pretty major character.**

**Firework's Feelings: ****Yeah, I know…*sniffs* okay, I give up…*bawls***

**Mosspaw:**** YEAH! PAIN! DRAMA! HEARTACHE! EMOTIONS! LOVE TRIANGLES! All these things are my middle names! Similar to Albus Dumbledore, I have a very crowded birth certificate! **

**easylikesundaymorning:**** Um, wow, that was a very heartfelt review…it sounded like you had your own gut-wrenching experience, I hope you're okay. Whatever happened, I hope it's all as better as it'll get at this point. And yes, there is definitely a Love Triangle in the future! *Evil laughter* I do love those. **

_If I die young, bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses. Sink me in the river at dawn…send me away with the words of a love song. The sharp knife of a short life…well, I've had just enough time. And I'll be wearing white, when I come into your kingdom. I'm as green as the ring on my little, cold finger. I've never known the loving of a man, but it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand…There's a boy here in town who says he'll love me forever. Who would have thought forever could be severed by the sharp knife of a short life? Well, I've had just enough time… So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls. What I never did is done._

"So Ronin! How are you? How's school? How's the zanpaku-tô training coming along? How's the Kidô? How's -"

Ronin makes shushing noises towards Kaori. "Hush up, you. You're overwhelming Sadako." He looks up at her, his violet eyes wide and smiling. Sadako does feel slightly overwhelmed, but she doesn't think it's for the reason he said.

"And anyway," he says, looking back at Kaori, "I don't want to have to say everything twice, so I'm going to wait for Eiko to get here...Where is she, anyway?"

"She went out," Kaori says shortly. "I thought she'd be back by now. When did you get here?"

"Literally five minutes before you. I haven't even set up my stuff yet." He stands. "How about we take Sadako for a tour?" He smiles at her again. She stands as well, her head feeling slightly dizzy. He grabs a big long stick from next to the door as well as a bag and heads back into the house. Sadako pads after him, leaving Kaori behind at the kitchen table.

"Okay, so this is Kaori's room," he says, tapping his knuckles on a closed door as they pass. "But you better wait until she shows you it. This is Eiko's room. Just across the hall from Kaori's. Eiko is actually Kaori's biological mother. I'm just someone they knew from when they were alive." He frowns. "Well, actually, Kaori and Eiko were dead for seventeen years when I passed, and we all came here together. I was, like, one when they died. But that's another story." He smiles.

"Kaori mentioned something about a zanpaku-tô?" Sadako asks as he stops outside another door.

"Yeah. My sword," he says, and hands her the big long stick. "Doesn't have a name yet. I'm hoping to make contact with it while I'm here."

Sadako looks up, about to ask if talking to and naming swords is something that most people do around here, when she is distracted by Ronin's room.

There's a large picture of a man on the wall. The man's got black hair, small eyes, and what looks like a piece of tape across his right cheek and nose. Three scars mar the left side of his face, and there's a 69 tattooed under the tape. His neck and upper arms are circled by what looked like pieces of filmstrip. His black robe is cut off at the shoulders. He looks like a very serious person.

"That's Shûhei Hisagi, lieutenant of squad 9," Ronin says, noticing her noticing. "He's from here, you know, this town. He's been through a lot. Totally my idol." Ronin scowls. "Not like that good-for-nothing squad six fukutaicho." He mutters the last words under his breath. "Thinks he's so cool..."

"What?" Sadako asks, a bit confused.

Ronin shakes his head. "Nothing." He holds out his hand, and Sadako places the sword in it, but not without studying it first. It's just a plain sword, with black wrappings and an ordinary guard. The scabbard is brown and plain.

"When my zanpaku-tô awakens, it'll reveal its true design," Ronin says, seeing the plain decorations. "I have to hurry up though. Everyone else in my year has already met theirs." He looks a little concerned for a second, clenching his hands on the hilt. "Well, whatever. I guess it'll just...wake when it's ready."

He set the sword down in the opening of the door as someone called from the front of the house. "Well, that's our cue," he said, ushering a still-overwhelmed Sadako out the door. She walks down the hall, entering the kitchen to see a young redheaded woman sit down hard on a chair.

"Mom! Are you okay?" Kaori asks, bending over her mother.

"Spiritual...Pressure..." the woman says slowly. "Are you not feeling this? There's a boatload of Spiritual Pressure nearby." She closes her eyes, and then they snap open again and look right at Sadako.

"Who is this?" she asks.

"I'm Sadako," Sadako says timidly.

"Who? Ronin, did you bring her from the Academy? Is she your girlfriend?"

Both Sadako and Ronin turn red. "No!" Ronin says quickly. "No," he says calmer. "She's not. She just arrived here in the Soul Society. Kaori picked her up." He puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing a bit.

"So she doesn't go to the Academy." The lady looks at Sadako. Sadako shakes her head. The woman looks thoughtful. "How soon do you think we can get her enrolled there?"

"What?" Sadako asks, shocked.

"I said, how soon do you think we can get her enrolled there?" the woman says again. "Sadako's spiritual pressure is about to know the house down. She needs to learn how to harness it. How did you not sense something like that, Ronin?"

"'Cause he sucks," Kaori mutters. Ronin's arm shifts a little on Sadako's shoulder as he turns and glares at his sister.

"Well, I guess we'll see what we can do," says the woman, holding out her hand. "I'm Eiko, Eiko Abarai."

**!**

_He weaves in and out of her dreams that night, the man. She cannot see his face but she knows that he is smiling. The man doesn't seem hostile, but instead emerges from behind the corners in her mind, parts of his body sheathed in smoke so that she never knows what he looks like all pieced together. He smiles and holds out his hand to her, calloused skin looming in her vision. She reaches out her own hand and takes it._

_Suddenly she's in a park of some kind, the pavement wet after a good rain. She's sitting on a bench. Trees are scattered throughout the park. She notices warmth on her hand and looks over to see the man sitting next to her, his smile lighting up his face. She can see his features now: his head is topped by a mop of spiky orange hair, and his eyes are a warm chocolate brown. His smile is elated and joyful; like his own personal angel is sitting on the wet bench with him._

"_Hello, Orihime," he whispers._

"_Ichigo," she murmurs back, and suddenly his lips are on hers, gently, his hand behind her head, cupping her neck and bringing her closer to him. His lips are soft and sweet and they taste like everything she's ever wanted. She wraps her arm around his back and draws him even closer, his chest warm and hard. She pulls away for a moment._

"_I missed you so much," she says against his chest._

"_Sh." He puts a finger under her chin and draws her face toward his again, his eyelashes closing on her own. He feels so amazing. Tears run down her cheeks with the happiness of being in his arms again._

_And then, suddenly, something happens. Pain pierces her chest like a million knives stabbing her all at once, and she looks up to see him falling away through a tunnel, agony in his eyes. He reaches out for her, but she is sucked back, away from him._

_It's only then that she notices that the puddle at their feet is red with blood._

Sadako sits up in bed, gasping.

Her forehead is clammy with sweat and her legs are tangled in the sheets. Her chest heaves with the pain of the nightmare. But even now she feels the dream slipping away from her. Like water in her cupped hands, the more she tries to hold on to the memory of the man, the more it slips out of her grasp, until she is left with only nothing.

She shudders, and without warning, tears begin to fall from her eyes. Her body is wracked with the pain of not knowing. Her hair falls across her back and shoulders, spilling over her nightgown. She buries her face in her hands, tears streaking across her pale face. But she makes no noise; Ronin is sleeping in this room, too, and she mustn't wake him. Or at least, that's what she tells herself. She raises her head to look over at him.

Since Kaori and Eiko's rooms were both slightly larger than broom closets, they decided that she'd stay in Ronin's room. Despite her protests, they gave her Ronin's bed and made one up for him. And so here she was.

But what is going on over there with Ronin?

As she watches, the room grows brighter. The source of the light seems to be coming from Ronin's hand, which is clutched around his zanpaku-tô. It's a strange light: light blue with dark purple shafts weaving around it. Wind whips through the room and blows Sadako's hair back. As she watches, the light grows steadily brighter and brighter until she has to shield her eyes against it. When she looks again, there is someone else in the room.

She is a woman: tall, with dark purple hair that flows down her back. She has a golden circlet running around her forehead with a ruby in the center. She is clothed in a loose strip of cloth around her chest and another around her waist, both light blue. They seem to be made of almost a silky material that ruffles in the breeze, giving the illusion that it is traveling around and around, encircling her body. Her legs end in a kind of vapor-like wisp instead of feet, and she hovers a few inches off the ground. From her back sprouts a pair of golden wings, bird wings, with each feather defined in gold. They're thick at the top and come inwards towards her ankles, then widen out again a little. The feathers near her head are about the size of quarters, while the ones at the bottom are longer than Sadako's forearm. Sadako stares in amazement, and the woman looks up at her. Her eyes are light blue, almost white. She meets Sadako's gaze for a moment before she disappears, all the light sucking into the zanpaku-tô as well as the wind.

The zanpaku-tô is different as well, now. The hilt is scarlet with purple diamonds underneath, and the guard is in the shape of a pair of golden spread wings. The scabbard is purple, as well. Attached to the end is a piece of swirly blue material like the kind she was wearing. It is long enough to make it just past the guard. It looks like if you flattened it out, it would be a square with one corner tied to the sword. It's gorgeous.

As Sadako is noticing these things, Ronin sits bolt upright it bed. He meets Sadako's eyes; her still-sweaty hair curled over one side of her neck.

"I did it," he whispers. He brings the zanpaku-tô up between them, holding it out so that they both can see. "I did it!" he says again. "I DID IT!"

He springs out of bed and pelts down the hallway, waving the sword over his head. "EIKO! KAORI! I DID IT! I DID IT!"

Sadako sinks back between the covers, listening to them exclaiming over his new weapon.

"What's its name?" she hears Kaori ask.

"Rubitori," Ronin says happily. "Her name is Rubitori."

"Okay, okay," Rukia said. "That's enough, Tatsuki."

She pulled Tatsuki away from Ichigo's still body. She hadn't wanted to defend him because she thought that he could do it himself. Apparently all the others had thought the same thing.

But Ichigo was still. He made no move to stop the attack, just stood, his eyes lifeless.

What had Orihime said to him in the moments before she died? Rukia wondered. It must have been something important to make him act this way. Her curiosity was rising, but she pushed it down out of respect. Holding a limp Tatsuki just made it feel worse.

Does Orihime know what she's doing to us? she wondered. Somewhere, does she know?

"Hey, Tape Man! Jiggles wants to see you!"

Shûhei turned at the sound of Yachiru's voice. She was alone for once, and a solemn pull graced her features. Her shoulders slumped uncharacteristically like she'd been denied candy from her favorite noble taicho. He felt a slight thrill of alarm.

_Jiggles? Who could that -? Oh, she means Rangiku. _Shûhei blushed. Then he realized – _Tape Man? What the hell?_

Then came his next thought. _Rangiku wants to see me? Oh, I better get there ASAP. _He waved to the small girl.

"Thanks, Yachiru." He broke into a run, his sandals slapping the pavement, unaccustomed to the sound of no laughter coming from the girl as he raced by. It must be serious. He shifted out of focus as he took a leap forward with flash step and was at the 10th company lieutenant's office in record time. He slid open the door, poking his head in.

"Rangiku?" he called.

Rangiku had her head down on her desk, her shoulders shaking. He paused, his mouth slightly open, wondering if she was playing some kind of trick on him. But after a moment, when she still didn't say anything, he slid the door closed and walked over to her desk. Crouching on his toes, he tentatively placed a hand on her back, bewildered.

"Rangiku, are you all right?" he asked. A piece of paper caught his eye, and he looked at it briefly, his eyes widening.

**ORIHIME INOUE IS DEAD**, the paper proclaimed.

He rubbed her back comfortingly, now realizing why she was crying like this – crying in a way he hadn't seen since the death of Gin Ichimaru. He bounced a little on his toes, trying to see her face.

The door opened. Shûhei looked up. It was Izuru Kira, looking depressed as usual. His eyes widened when he saw Shûhei and Rangiku. Shûhei blushed and snatched his hand away.

"Hisagi! What's going on here?" Izuru asked.

Wordlessly, Shûhei extended the paper to Izuru, who came forward and scanned it. His brows came together. "Who –?"

"Rangiku's ryoka friend, remember? The woman with the healing powers that Aizen abducted?" Shûhei reminded him.

Izuru's facial expression didn't change. "Oh, yeah. Captain Hitsugaya and Rangiku stayed at her house a couple times. Oh, man, that's a bummer."

Shûhei looked down at the mourning woman.

"Yeah, it surely is."

Wind whipped Yuzu and Karin's short dresses as they hunched into their jackets. It was an oddly dismal day. Dismal for the time of year, but not for the occasion. Yuzu stifled a sob and leaned into her sister as Orihime's coffin was lowered into the ground.

Karin squeezed her arm around her sister. She hadn't needed to be asked to wear a dress today, instead, she had donned it out of respect for her brother's classmate. It made her feel more feminine than she was used to. She scrubbed angrily at her own eyes and watched as Sado stepped forward with a shovel and tossed in a mound of dirt.

Gazing at her brother, Karin felt a pang of worry go through her. Not for the first time, either. Ichigo's head was bowed so low that his eyes were rendered invisible. He stood with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his black pants, completely motionless. Next to him, his ruby-haired friend (whose name Karin did not know) stood slumped with his arms around Rukia. Rukia was buried in his chest, her small arms encircling his body. Karin wondered about the man –maybe he was Rukia's boyfriend? He was more than twice her size. He was also watching Ichigo concernedly, his large hand making slow, comforting circles on Rukia's back unconsciously.

Next to them, another of Ichigo's classmates stepped forward with the shovel. His name was Ishida or something. He took off his glasses to swipe at his own eyes and then jammed them back on, nearly stabbing out his eyeball. His white-gloved hands wrapped around the shovel, digging into the dirt and then gently tossing it into the hole. He added a rose from his lapel to the ground.

"Goodbye, Orihime," he whispered into the wind.

Yuzu gave another sob, and Karin pulled her tighter. Funny, Karin didn't know Yuzu and Orihime were that close. It seemed strange that her siblings were mourning her so much, and yet Karin felt she hardly knew the girl.

To her, that was the saddest part of the day.

Rukia detached herself from the man and stepped forward, accepting the shovel from Ishida. She gently pushed the shovel into the dirt but seemed unable to lift it, her whole body trembling with grief. She dropped her eyes and swiped at her face, growing angry at her weakness. Her friend stepped forward and wrapped his hands around hers, lifting the shovel with her and tossing it into the hole. Rukia broke down sobbing again.

Man, this was depressing. Karin clenched her teeth, fighting her emotions. Tatsuki came forward and angrily hacked into the dirt, throwing it into the hole. Her face was soaked with tears and she was shaking. Karin had never seen the girl this way before. Keigo Asano, another classmate, stepped forward and wrapped his arm comfortingly around her shoulders, but she pushed him away. He stumbled back Chizuru and Mizuiro, looking even more depressed than ever. Tatsuki cried into her hands instead.

Someone held out the shovel to Ichigo. He still had his head bowed. Without looking up, he accepted the shovel from them and slowly slid it into the dirt, each second agonizing. His knuckles whitened on the handle, and Karin was surprised to see blood running down the handle from his hands. The dirt slid off the handle into the ground, and Ichigo stepped back, pulling something from his pocket. He let it fall from his fingers and into the hole. It looked like a folded-up piece of paper. He opened his mouth, and –

**HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!**

Karin's head jerked up, but Yuzu didn't stir. Ichigo tensed, his head looking upward. Rukia and her friend's faces went from grief to panic. Keigo and Tatsuki looked confused.

"Shit." Rukia's friend stepped forward, pulling what looked like a Pez dispenser from his pocket. He thumbed the lid and dropped a small pellet into his hand, Rukia doing the same. Ichigo ripped a hexagonal badge from his waistline and slammed it to his forehead just as Rukia and her friend popped the pills in their mouths.

There were a bunch of these blue lightning things and the three of them burst forward, except…_what?_ Their bodies stumbled backwards, but the new ones stood coldly and looked at the other ones. Two Rukia's stood, as well as a clone of her friend. Ichigo's body fell limply to the ground.

His new body stood tall, a black _shihaksho_ cloaking it. A red sash fell from one shoulder and encircled his torso, and a ginourmous sword was bound to his back. His feet were sheathed in sandals, and a white cloth was tied around his waist. Rukia and her friend were clothed similarly, except that their swords were more reasonable sized and sheathed at their waists. They looked dangerous, now – inhuman, almost.

"I think Ichigo just knocked himself out," Chizuru whispered loudly to Mizuiro.

What? No, Ichigo was standing right there, in the weird black clothes! Karin thought. Then she thought – what if they can't see him? Like that Hitsugaya guy?

"Ichigo, protect your sisters," Rukia's friend ordered.

Ichigo nodded limply. Rukia barked, "Come on, Renji," and the two of them jumped into the air and – flew? Ishida and Sado followed them.

"Where is everyone going?" Keigo cried. "They're leaving without me!"

"Keigo," Ichigo said.

Everyone except Chizuru, Mizuiro, and Yuzu straightened at the sound of his voice. He sounded hollow.

"Keigo, take Mizuiro and Chizuru and run," he said. Then, confirming Karin's suspicions: "If you can hear me, then do what I say." He dropped his head so that his eyes were shaded again. "Tatsuki, you too."

"Ichigo, what –"

"GO!" Ichigo roared suddenly, and Keigo scrambled backwards.

"O-of course," he said fearfully, and grabbed his two friends. "Alright, guys, the funeral's over. Let's scram."

"Mr. Asano! What's happening?" Mizuiro said.

"N-nothing – let's go." Keigo pulled the two out of sight.

"Tatsuki, get out of here," Ichigo said.

Tatsuki's head was also bowed, her black dress blowing in the wind. She looked up at Ichigo, her eyes red. Determination was written on her face. "No," she said.

"No? Hop!" giggled Rukia. Karin blinked at her. Yeah, this wasn't Rukia. It was something else entirely. "You have to go, hop!"

"NO!" Tatsuki bellowed. Ichigo blinked at her. "I'm not leaving! This is what killed Orihime, isn't it?" she yelled, waving behind her.

Agony slammed into Ichigo's face. The look there was pure pain and torture. Tatsuki took a step back at his expression.

"You….have no idea," he croaked. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA!" he yelled. "NO IDEA! WHY WON'T YOU JUST…."

He dropped his head into his hands. Everything was dead silent for a moment, and then, from a distance, came Rukia's voice. "ICHIGO! IT'S HEADING THIS WAY! GET THE HUMANS OUT OF THE AREA!"

_Humans? The way she says it…it makes her sound like she's not. Human, I mean. _

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Chappy! You!" He snapped his fingers at Rukia and her friend Renji. "Take care of Tatsuki, and my body, since Kon's not here. I'll get Yuzu and Karin." He turned to his sisters, huddled against each other in the cold and fear.

"Come on, guys," he said, and crouched by Yuzu and Karin. "I know it's confusing, but just bear with me for now, and I promise I'll explain everything."

"Ichi-nii? Is that you?" Yuzu's voice sounded pitiful.

"Can you hear me, Yuzu?" Ichigo asked.

"I…kind of." Yuzu sniffed, and Ichigo stood, looking at Karin.

"You can see me, right?"

"Yes." Karin narrowed her eyes. "And I want an explanation, RIGHT NOW."

Ichigo sighed. He picked Yuzu up around the waist and cradled her to his chest. She had her eyes squeezed closed, breathing in deeply to reassure herself that it really was her brother. Then he bent low.

"Climb on my back," he said to Karin, who did so, nudging the huge sword out of the way as best she could. Then Ichigo took a leap forward, going faster that Karin had thought possible. He was going so fast that the world disappeared around them.

"WHAT! THE! HELL?" she screamed at the top of her voice. Yuzu's eyes were still squeezed closed, and she was murmuring frantically to herself.

Then there was a crash that shook Ichigo's frame, and he stumbled. The world reappeared around Karin. Ichigo stumbled, but kept his balance.

Lying stunned next to him was Rukia.

"Are you all right?" Ichigo asked her. She opened her eyes and winced.

"I'm fine…are you okay?" she asked. "I did hit you, after all." She winced again, and Ichigo knelt next to her, still holding Yuzu. Karin slid off of his back.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she said, wincing once more. "Let me just….OW."

She had tried to stand and collapsed. Her face was greenish and beaded with sweat. "I think my legs are broken," she hissed through gritted teeth.

Renji appeared next to them, blood covering his forehead. He was holding a weirdly shaped sword with spikes on one side. Karin was positive that he hadn't had it before. "I got it," he said proudly, then noticed Rukia on the ground. "Oy! Rukia!"

His sword fell to the ground with a clatter and he dropped to his knees next to her. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" He felt her neck. "I can't find a pulse!"

"Pulses are over here, idiot," Ichigo said drily, moving Renji's hand a couple inches to the right. "Plus, she's obviously alive. She's breathing, isn't she?"

"I think my…legs are broken," Rukia said shallowly.

"Let's take the whole gang over to Urahara's," Renji said, grabbing his sword. It glowed red momentarily, then thinned back to regular size. Karin stared at him as he sheathed it. What the hell was going on here?"

"Can she see us?" he asked, pointing at Karin, who gritted her teeth.

"Yes, I can see you, _numbskull._" She aimed a punch at his face, but he grabbed her wrist and used her momentum to flip her onto her back, landing with a slam on the ground. The wind was knocked out of her. He didn't even look at her.

"That's my sister you're knocking around, _dumbass,"_ Ichigo said, kicking the man in the face and knocking him to the ground. "Be glad I don't do reactions like Byakuya, or else your head and your body would no longer be together."

Renji stood and wiped his face. He gathered up Rukia, who winced as she was jostled. Karin climbed back onto Ichigo's back, and the two men leaped forward faster than light itself.

**A/N: Wow. That is the longest chapter I have ever written in my whole entire life (total word count: 4,789 words) –pants- If I don't get a lot of reviews, I will be angry! –makes mad face- -laughs-**

**Okay, I have two fics to recommend – first, **_**Fifty Ways to Annoy the Soutaicho**_**, by Pipidae. And second, **_**Bleach Summer Camp **_**by MJLCoyoteStarrk. Both of these, but especially the second one, are the funniest fanfictions I have ever read in my author career. (Except anything by St. Fang of Boredom but she's over in Maximum Ride.) **

**Anyway, that's it for today. See you later, and don't forget to review!**


	5. Erase

**A/N: I meant to update this last weekend but I didn't have a chance. I wanted to update **_**My Espada Boys **_**first, and that wound up taking way longer than it should have because I was torn about pairings. :) Read it, you can see what I'm talking about.**

**Anyway, I decided to update today, because it's Orihime's birthday. Yesterday was MY birthday, and I turned fourteen. Okay, now we HAVE to sing the birthday song: **_**Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Schne-and-Orihime, happy birthday to you. **_**Okay, I admit, you all did pretty terribly. Speaking of pretty terribly, everyone who subscribed to author/story alert but did not review, this chapter is NOT dedicated to you. It's dedicated to all my lovely reviewers. –makes raspberry noise- **

**Disclaimer: Bleach and all its characters and property belong to Tite Kubo and Viz Media. **_**Erase **_**belongs to MIKA, and I think he's self-published, correct me if I'm wrong. **

**Responding to some reviews here…**

**himelove22****: Right on! Orihime's healing powers will definitely be sorely missed…I'm also hoping that anyone who happens to be reading this and thinking **_**Good, Orihime's dead, she's so weak and useless anyway no one will notice she's gone, **_**YOU ARE WRONG.**

**Magdalena88****: Glad you're interested. No promises on the happy ending.**

**nypsy****: Yeah, I realized that there probably should have been more people there after you said that. BUT, I thought that this was probably like a family thing, and since she really didn't have much family (except those distant relatives and crap) I decided that there was probably a big funeral with all kinds of people there but only really close friends were invited to the burial, plus Renji with Rukia since Renji and Orihime weren't that close anyway. When Aizen was hunting them and they could see him, I kind of wrote it off as since they were in the Soul Society, they were better able to see Hollows and stuff because of all the reishi and stuff. I don't know. And about Ronin and the Abarai stuff, I'm publishing a oneshot that explains everything soon.**

**Chuain****: You know, I gotta say, you don't really seem to like this story that much. I would advise you (again) to stop reading it if you're just going to give me negative feedback. **

**makaykay15****: Thank you, thank you, thank you! –bows- Oh yeah, someone told me how to do linebreakers and I tried it on the last chapter, but it failed epicly! :) So this time I'll just go back to my usual linebreaker.**

**whitechan16****: yeah, I try. Now, to the story!**

_Everything's cool, the rent is paid. The house is clean, your bed is made…but it's a ghost town in your mind. You never had time to go to sleep, we'd wake up tangled in the sheets on a bed that we called home. And when the pain won't go away, you might as well put your finger on the trigger…Erase my love. I bet you can't erase my touch. You're trying to replace the feeling without a name of somebody else's face…erase._

"Spread your wings, Rubitori!"

As Sadako watches, Ronin's blade splits in two, down the seam. Each part folds into two metal hawks, accurate down to the last detail, one slightly smaller than the other. Their eyes are ruby red. Ronin lifts his hands, palms out, and uses them to direct the birds to attack a nearby tree. In moments sap is oozing from gashes in the side of the tree and branches and sticks are littering the ground: the birds have literally razor-sharp talons as well as lethal beaks. A single slice could easily remove someone's arm.

Ronin grins and picks up his zanpaku-tô, the hilt glowing before the birds disappear and the blade is restored. "Wow," he says. "This is going really quickly."

Sadako doesn't say anything. It's been about a week since she saw the vision of the woman. But why? It's still a mystery. She assumes that the woman is the materialized form of Rubitori, Ronin's blade, but this has never been confirmed. In fact, Ronin hasn't said anything about the beautiful gypsy-like woman.

One thing has changed since that day, however. Even Ronin, who is a ten on a scale of one to ten of awfulness at detecting reatsu, has to admit that Sadako is oozing power out of every pore. Eiko says that they need to enroll Sadako in the Academy as soon as possible, and that she may even be able to pass with just a single year of study and rise straight to the rank of a seated officer. There's just one problem: a zanpaku-tô. Sadako can't detect any sort of "inner power" within herself and it's definitely worrying all of the Abarais.

She doesn't really mind. Soul Reaper Academy sounds really cool. In fact, they're waiting for Eiko to get back from her journey up to the Academy with the word. Sadako is content to just sit and watch Ronin train his shikai, trying to catch up with the others in his class.

Kaori leans against another tree, the sun glaring off her square-framed glasses. Her short red hair gleams in the light as well, the colored beads clanking around her ears, her eyes narrowed as she watches her adopted brother. Her gaze occasionally shifts to Sadako, watching the girl brush her hair back yet again. Sadako wonders if she had some kind of hairpins or something in life, because the constant shaking away of the auburn strands is kind of irritating. She still doesn't know what her face looks like; there are no mirrors in this district. But she thinks she's probably at least kind of good-looking. If Ronin's reaction whenever she walks into a room is any indication, she's probably _very_ good-looking. But, the problem is she can't tell if he thinks her face is attractive, or her too-large chest.

She draws her knees up to her chin and rests her cheek on them, looking distantly at the small house. Her eyes glaze over, and for the millionth time, she attempts to remember…

A small tap on her shoulder scares her, and she jumps a little, her heart pounding. Ronin is standing over her, blocking the sun, his body framed by a yellow aura. She can see every bit of frizz on his head, all the tiny hairs that were too short to be pulled back into his long braid. He smiles, removing the sheath of his zanpaku-tô from her shoulder and swinging it over his own bare arm. His training tunic is folded down around his waist, and his muscled upper body is glistening with sweat. Her heart trips in her chest, and her own forehead breaks out in sweat. Ronin's smile falters for a second as he catches her gaze and holds it there. But then it returns full-force and he holds out his free hand to help her up. She unfolds her arm and accepts his help, his hand lingering in hers for just a second too long after she's on her feet.

A bird lands on Ronin's shoulder, and he brushes it away impatiently. Birds have been flocking to him ever since his powers were awakened. He catches her eye again, and she can't help but giggle a little as he grins despite himself.

"Win some, lose some," he murmurs, meant for her ears only. She giggles again. "Let's see if Eiko is home yet, yes?"

He takes her hand and pulls her into the house. Laughing, she trips along, allowing herself to be pulled on by the ruby-haired man. They disappear into the dark hut.

Behind them, Kaori's eyes fill with angry tears. She clenches her fists, her knuckles whitening. A drop of liquid silver runs down her face and drips on her lavender tunic, making a darker purple circle. It's joined by another, then two more. But she keeps her tears silent and personal, letting her heart thump painfully but not emitting even a single cry of pain.

**!**

"AAGHTPBTH~!"

Ichigo's fingers located the small green Mod in the throat of the stuffed lion and closed around it, yanking the pill past the plush lips and into the air. The animal fell limply into his hand as Ichigo, no emotion crossing his face, popped the pill into his open mouth and swallowed it. His soul separated from his body, and Kon stumbled, slipping in his sock-clad feet on the wooden floor before losing his balance and falling, landing on Ichigo's bed.

"A little warning would be nice!" Kon muttered, picking himself up. "Plus, what's with the harsh treatment? You could have used your special Deputy Badge or whatever the hell it's called!"

"I told you, I lost it," Ichigo muttered. He took a look around his room. "Be ready to act. I might be away for a while."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get Orihime."

Kon sat up straight on Ichigo's bed, his expression panicked. "Whoa. Wait. Orihime's dead! Plus, you never preformed _konso_ on her! Her soul's still wandering around the park somewhere!"

"It's not," Ichigo said flatly. "We checked. We think maybe 'Fro dude preformed _konso_ on her, because we can't detect her Spiritual Pressure anywhere. Can't even find her soul ribbon. She's definitely in the Soul Society. Just gotta find her."

"Dude. You're insane!"

"What did you say?" Ichigo said, but there was no threat in his voice. Somehow, this was even more threatening to the Mod, who drew back in fear.

"I said you're insane," he said, a tremor running through his voice. "What are the chances of finding Orihime in a place like the Soul Society? You have to whole Rukon district to search!" He drew his eyebrows together. "The Thirteen Court Guard Squads aren't going to support you, either. Get a grip, moron! We get that you're upset, okay? You don't need to broadcast it to everyone! Don't make it so obvious that your brain is dam-"

Ichigo drew back his fist and punched Kon in the jaw, knocking him out cold. The boy keeled over on his bed, silent.

"I have to do it now," he whispered. "While Rukia's down. I can't have anyone else getting hurt." He looked down at his body, unconscious with his butt in the air.

"Take care, Kon," he said.

Then he was through the window and gone.

**!**

The next morning finds Sadako and Ronin at the door, saying their goodbyes. The Academy decided that they wanted to see Sadako as soon as possible and could take her right away with the new recruits. So she was accompanying Ronin back to school for the start of the new term.

Kaori is pressed into Ronin's chest, clutching her brother's chest. She obviously doesn't want her brother to go. Sadako gives Eiko a hug as well, pressing the older woman close, breathing in her scent. It smells like a mom. Sadako hopes one day she can think of Eiko as a mom. But not today - today she has a few more important things to worry about, like remembering who she is.

"I'm glad I met you, Sadako," Eiko murmurs into Sadako's ear, clutching the girl tighter to her chest. "Have fun at the Academy. And good luck."

At first Sadako thinks she's talking about finding out who she is, but then she draws away and sees Eiko's eyes sparkling with mischief. Sadako feels her cheeks heat up with the implied meaning behind the red haired woman's words. She grins involuntarily.

"Thanks," she says, though she doubts she'll need it.

Then it's time to leave. Ronin shoulders his pack and slips his zanpaku-tô through his belt. Then they leave, setting off down the dirt road toward the Academy.

At first the silence between the two is awkward. The only sound is the crunch of their feet on the rocks, and the swish and rustle of fabric on skin and hair swaying back and forth. Once they reach the market, Ronin offers to buy her some breakfast and/or lunch for later. She declines, her stomach in knots from anxiety at meeting new people. To distract herself, she asks about his friends.

"Oh, right! Heh. Well, I have a few, but I'll tell you about my closet ones. There's Yuuki, who's like….I don't know, really…calm. And then there's Seiji, his twin brother, who's just…not. And then there's Mai, who's just…amazing. Mai's like a goddess, just…amazing. Her boyfriend is Ryuu. He's like, really protective of her. But he's pretty cool. And then there's Ui, I think you'll like her. But I mostly hang with Mai and Ryuu. You'll like them a lot."

Sadako nods. She hopes she will like them.

They stop for lunch a few hours later. Bellies full, Ronin urges her to nap if she wants to. Sadako gratefully accepts and falls into a deep slumber.

_The white zanpaku-tô flashes in the air, reflecting its own glow. A trailing white ribbon flows from the end, forming a perfect circle around the pointed blade, the color of snow. The hand that grips the handle is small, delicate; each finger perfectly formed, each nail a smooth oval, not a scratch marring the beautiful pale surface. The light from the zanpaku-tô falls on two huge indigo eyes somewhere above it, but the eyes are the only thing she is able to make out. Then, from below, there's a slight glisten as two perfectly formed lips move. _

"_Tsugi no Mai."_

_The ground lights up as four points pierce the ground and flow upwards. dissolving into white flakes. She can now see the sandaled feet of the wielder of this beautiful blade. The indigo eyes lock onto her._

"_Hakuren."_

_The ice hits her then, freezing her whole body solid. The coldness stabs her from every direction, stopping her breath from shock, short-circuiting her brain. Her eyes widen and her last thought is: why, Rukia? Why?_

Sadako shoots up, gasping. The dream is slipping through her brain equally fast as the last one, making her breath come short. Sweat slips across her forehead, and she can feel her heart beating in her chest, pounding her throat, her stomach everywhere. Her body is panicking over something that her mind can't remember.

Ronin glances concernedly over at her. "You okay? It's only been a few minutes. Did you have a nightmare or something?"

Sadako can only gasp in response, like a fish out of water.

_What was happening?_

**!**

"Psst. Ichigo!"

The boy froze, his ears detecting the urgent whisper. He whipped around. All he could see in the darkness was the silhouette of what looked like an oversized pineapple.

"Renji! What are you doing here?"

The pineapple grew shoulders and then got closer, so that Ichigo could make out some features. Renji's face was serious. "I decided I couldn't stand to see Rukia in so much pain – both from her legs, and emotionally. I'm coming with you."

Ichigo sighed. But he didn't argue. He needed a way to get to the Soul Society, and really didn't want to bother with Hat-and-Clogs. He pressed a hand to his forehead. "Well, we had better get going then. Do your thing."

Renji pulled out his sword and extended it in front of him. It slid into the air, the blade disappearing halfway to the hilt. He turned it clockwise, like he was unlocking a door. The doors appeared and slid open. Ichigo and Renji stepped through, the doors lingering open for just a moment before closing.

In that moment, a dark shadow slipped through the doors. Then they closed and faded, one at a time.

In their place was nothing.

**I'm sorry it was so short, but I need to get this up before midnight! SO this is all you get! Plus I need a beta, if anyone's up for it!**

**-Schne**


	6. Little Lion Man

**A/N: Okay…I had a question I was gonna ask the readers in general, but I forgot what it was…oops. **

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach, "Mumford & Sons" owns **_**Little Lion Man. **_**How original.**

**makaykay****: I'm sorry if I lead you to believe that she's remembering. She's not. Her dreams are random, she cannot remember Ichigo & co. at all. Sorry about the letdown…**

**himelove22****: Yep, it's to the Academy for Hime, so she's destined to become a Shinigami at some point…Hopefully sooner rather than later, ha ha.**

**nypsy****: Your review didn't leave much to reply to, but I will say this: Wow are you famous! Damn, every SINGLE Ichihime story I stumble across, the author from the second chapter will be like "Oh, Nypsy this" or "Nypsy that" and I'm like…Whoa! What? When does this person read all this fanfiction? Do you get around, or WHAT? Jeez. I'm impressed.**

**midnight03****: I would gladly accept your offer except that you didn't use correct grammar/punctuation in it…I don't know, let me wait and see…**

**Chuain****: Okay, cool. Glad we got that behind us.**

**Now, to the chapter!**

_Weep for yourself, my man, you'll never be what is in your heart. Weep, little lion man, you're not as brave as you were at the start. Rate yourself and rake yourself, take all the courage you have left…wasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head - but it was not _your_ fault, but _mine_, and it was _your_ heart on the line. I really fucked it up this time, didn't I, my dear? Didn't I, my…?_

Ronin and Sadako make their way toward the Academy in a comfortable silence. Well, Ronin is comfortable. Sadako's heart is racing and her entire body is covered in a thin sheen of sweat. It's the most bizarre thing ever. A dream that she can't remember still has her in its clutches and it is _terrifying._

She sneaks a glance at Ronin to see him watching her with a worried little frown on his face. She quickly looks away and surreptitiously wipes her hands on her Karakura High School T-shirt. When she looks back a moment later, he's fiddling with his long red braid, violet eyes narrowed a little and a crinkle between his eyebrows. A force she almost can't control wants to reach up and smooth out the crinkle with her thumb. She inhales sharply at her own nerve and feels her cheeks stain red, grasping her left wrist in her right hand and pulling it to her chest to restrain herself.

Soon, they approach the gates of the Academy. On the other side of the gates is a man, dressed in black robes – a legit Shinigami. He has blond, swept back hair and glasses. When he reaches the gate, he nips his sleeves at the elbows to draw them back, adjusts his white gloves, and unlocks the gate.

As he pushes the gate open, Ronin leaps to the side of the road. "Third seat Iemura!" he calls, his fingers meeting his forehead in a salute and his spine straightening, bringing him to his full height. Sadako jumps and then copies him, feeling out of place in her World of the Living clothes.

The man, third seat Iemura, nods to Ronin and then lets his gaze slide over to Sadako. She can't see his eyes, but she can see his eyebrows, and they slide right up into his hairline. His mouth opens.

"The ryoka…!" he breathes.

"Sir?" Ronin asks, keeping his fingers on his forehead.

Iemura's mouth shuts with an audible click. "Nothing," he snaps. He turns on his heel and strides away, muttering to himself.

Ronin turns to Sadako, his military salute dropping. "What was that all about?" he asks her, confused.

Sadako drops her salute as well, her large eyes (she still doesn't know what color they are) narrowing in attempt to see if she can remember… "No idea," she murmurs after a moment.

Well, at least now she isn't sweating anymore. "Let's go on in," Ronin says, and they do so.

"What's a ryoka?" Sadako asks after a moment, recalling Iemura's words.

"A soul that enters the Soul Society illegally. There was a massive break-in two years ago when a Shinigami by the name of Rukia Kuchiki was going to be arrested for…well, I forget what she was going to be arrested for, but anyway, five – no, three humans, a Quincy, and a Shiba, as well as a cat, broke in to save her. They did end up saving her, but there was a lot of other stuff that also happened and the whole thing kind of imploded. Basically, three of the captains turned traitor and escaped to Hueco Mundo, and a while later there was this whole fight – but basically, a ryoka is someone who enters the Soul Society illegally."

There are a bunch of terms in the speech that Sadako doesn't recognize – like _Quincy, Shiba, Hueco Mundo _– but she decided to ignore them. "What were there names?" she asked after a pause.

"Well, there was the cat, who ended up being a woman who had fled the Soul Society a hundred years earlier – Shihôin Yoruichi, the Shiba, named Ganju, the Quincy named Ishida Uryû, and three humans – Yasutora Sado, Kurosaki Ichigo, and…oh, man, there was a girl, too…her name was…" His brows furrow in thought. "Oh, yeah! It was Inoue Orihime."

_I wonder if I knew her in life. She sounds cool. But…_ "Kurosaki Ichigo?" Sadako asks, and bursts out laughing. "What a silly name!"

**!**

Ichigo and Renji pounded through the tunnel connecting the worlds. The former had his eyes glued ahead, his feet beating a solid rhythm, arms swinging at his sides, Zangetsu slapping his calves with every step. The latter also was watching ahead, but occasionally his gaze flicked over to his companion. His tattoos drew down over his eyes and his lips pressed together. Adjusting his grip on Zabimaru, he flicked his eyes forward again and they ran on.

Renji was worried about his friend. It was very out of character for him to for him to be acting like this. Ichigo had never before let something get him down for this long – it had been about a week since Orihime's death, and he was _still_ depressed. Usually he just rolled with the punches – "Oh, Orihime's dead? Okay, whatever, we'll just go get her in the Soul Society" – but this time, that didn't seem to be the case. Renji himself was dead, but he had to remind himself of that a lot. He'd died as a young kid and couldn't remember his past life at all. He'd been dead for about a hundred years at this point. His kid body was decomposing somewhere, God knows where. And really, he couldn't care less. This was his life now. And anyway, he was dead and Ichigo was definitely alive, and they were running together now. So why couldn't Ichigo see that just because Orihime was dead it didn't necessarily mean that he'd never see her again?

Renji shook his head. Whatever. Ichigo would tell him what was up as soon as he felt like it, and not a moment before. There was no point in agonizing over it. He sighed deeply and renewed his pace as the exit to the tunnel came into view.

They leaped through the doors. Ichigo stumbled and nearly lost his balance, and Renji grabbed onto his friend and kept him upright.

"Arigato." Ichigo mumbled the word and then shook Renji's calloused hand off. "Let's find somewhere to sleep."

It crossed Renji's mind to suggest going to the squad six barracks where he lived and sleeping in a real bed but he decided to keep his mouth shut. Ichigo moved away from the doors which were for some reason still open behind them and off into the darkness beyond. Renji followed him reluctantly.

Behind them, the shadow slipped through the doors again and the doors closed behind it. The figure headed in the direction the men had gone, moving stealthily over the scraggly landscape.

Ahead of Renji, Ichigo had found a clearing and had begun to build a fire. He made a small teepee of wood and then sat back on his heels, wiping his forehead. He considered the pile in front of him, seeming to realize something.

"Damn. I forgot matches."

Renji snorted and pushed his way past Ichigo. "Pfft. Matches, who needs 'em?" He grinned and held out his hands.

"Hadô 31 – Shakkahô!"

Fifteen minutes later when they had cleaned up the small forest fire that Renji's unruly Kidô had caused, Ichigo stormed over to his friend. "What the hell were you thinking, you failure?" he yelled.

"I was thinking that you were an idiot and forgot matches and we needed someone to take matters into their own hands!" Renji yelled back, pressing his forehead against Ichigo's in attempt to get in his face. "If you had actually thought about this little expedition of yours maybe this wouldn't have happened!"

"I did! I just –"

"Shut up, will you? You two are giving me a headache!" someone shouted.

Heads still pressed together, Ichigo and Renji swiveled around to see who it was. Ichigo's mouth dropped open, and Renji's eyes scrunched together in confusion.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked.

Ichigo's mouth opened and closed a few times, before finally he swallowed and said, "You shouldn't have come here."

Tatsuki stepped forward. Her arms were crossed, and she was dressed in a black long sleeved shirt and black sweatpants. Her spiky hair was mussed, and she had soot on her face. She swung her weight onto her back leg and said, "Were you two trying to burn down the woods just now with that little spell?"

"…No," Ichigo stammered.

"Then what were you trying to do?"

"Start a small fire," Ichigo answered.  
>"…Hey, I know you," Renji said. "You're one of Ichigo's human friends…"<p>

"Little slow on the uptake, are we, Renji?" Ichigo said scathingly.

Renji ground his teeth but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, Tatsuki, what are you doing here?" Ichigo said, returning to the pressing matter at hand. "You should _not _be here. You need to go home."

Renji placed his thumb on the hilt of Zabimaru, ready to pull out the sword and open the Senkai-mon. But Tatsuki shook her head vehemently. "I knew you would do this," she said. "I'll fight you. I heard everything you and Pineapple-head here said, and I'm helping you find Orihime. I don't care what you say, I'm staying."

"How'd you get here, anyway?" Renji asked.

"I followed you through that purple tunnel thingy," Tatsuki said. "Then I came out here and I got here just in time to see you try to blow yourself up."

"…Oh, yeah, that," Renji said, embarrassed. "Darn, I was hoping no one else saw that…"

"Dude, they saw that explosion all the way in Seireitei," Ichigo said.

**!**

Ukitake's head whipped around at the sonic boom. Shunsui's head also raised from his cup of sake.

"What in the world was that?" Ukitake gasped.

Shunsui shrugged. "I don't know. Want some more sake?"

**!**

"They did?" Renji gasped, shocked.

Ichigo nodded. "You bet. I bet even Byakuya saw that one."

**!**

Byakuya was staring out of the window, thinking those deep, noble-ish thoughts that only people like Byakuya could think, when he saw a huge red light in the distance. He peered at it to try and determine what it was, and then sat back with a heavy sigh. His inferior vice-captain was on the loose wreaking havoc in the Rukongai again. He'd have to speak with the lowly man in the morning. Gritting his teeth a few seconds later when the violent blast hit his ears, he made a vow to reprimand his subordinate and then went to bed.

**!**

"Crap! You really think so?" Renji fretted.

"Without a doubt." Ichigo smirked at the thought of the trouble his friend would be in. Renji chewed his lip and played with the hilt of Zabimaru. Tatsuki stood awkwardly for a moment, then sat down where she was. Renji and Ichigo sat down as well.

"So where are we, anyway?" Tatsuki asked.

"In the Soul Society," Renji said, instantly sobering up.

Tatsuki paused before continuing. "Okay. And that has something to do with the fact that you guys are both wearing those black robes. And have swords. And can do magic spells that make stuff blow up."

"I didn't mean to…" Renji whined.

"And yet, you did," Ichigo said.

**!**

A blast distracted Hitsugaya from his paperwork. The room was temporarily bathed in red light. He gritted his teeth and put the brush back to the paper, cursing the individual who had the nerve to disturb him.

**!**

"…Damn," Renji said.

"Anyway, what's going on? What is all this crap about captains and stuff? Who the hell is Byakuya and what is Seireitei?"

"It's…complicated," Renji said, and then began to tell her.

**!**  
>"RONIN!"<p>

A white object comes flying through the air toward Ronin and hits him in the face. He gives a muffled _oof_ and coughs as the pillow thuds to the floor.

A boy with blond hair and glasses laughs and dances around in glee. "Oh, man! Hey! Hey, Yuuki, hey! Did you see that? Hey, that was funny!"

"Seiji, shut up," says another boy, lying on a bed with a magazine covering his face. He lowers it and glares at his twin. "Hey! Seiji! Shut up!"

"Ha ha ha! But it was so FUNNY!" says the first boy, laughing some more. Then he sees Sadako and his laughing stops abruptly.

"Who is _this_?" he nearly purrs. Sadako flushes bright red with embarrassment. Ronin's arm goes around her shoulders, and even though it's simply a protective gesture and not romantic in any way, her face turns an even brighter shade of red.

"This is Sadako," Ronin says, "and if I see or hear about you doing anything to her, I'll slash you with Rubitori."

He perks up. "Rubitori? Did you finally make contact with your zanpaku-tô?"

The other boy tosses aside his magazine. Adjusting his glasses, he stands and makes his way toward them. "Let's talk later," he says. "I'm going down to Mai and Ui's room. Coming?"

"Yeah, sure," says Ronin, turning. His arm still gripped firmly around Sadako's shoulders, he dumps his bags and wheels them around to the hall again.

Sadako's blush is starting to cool now. She even leans a little bit into Ronin's side. He's really warm, and she can feel his chest expanding with every breath he takes and every one he lets out.

They follow the blond twins. Sadako thinks their names are probably Seiji and Yuuki, the two that Ronin had mentioned before. Both of them have their hair cut the same way – really long on top, but shaved on the backs of their heads, almost like a bowl cut but somehow more attractive. Their eyes are teal, dark; Seiji's framed by thick yellow and black striped lenses and Yuuki's by blue and black ones. This seems to be the only way to tell them apart, besides their obvious personality differences. Both are wearing the same uniform: white on top with long gray pants, with swirls over the right and left chest - Ronin is also wearing this, so it must be required.

Sadako sighs contentedly. This looks like it's going to be fun.

Seiji puts on a sudden burst of speed and sprints down a flight of stairs in front of them, disappearing from their sight. Yuuki sighs and runs a hand through his hair, following his excitable twin.

Ronin and Sadako descend the stairs after them. "Sorry if this is overwhelming," Ronin says.

"It's fine," Sadako giggles. "I think this is going to be fun!"

Ronin gives a low chuckle, deep in his chest. His torso vibrates, and Sadako laughs again at the tickly feeling. She looks up at him, and he smiles back down, his arm warm on her shoulders.

"See? I _told _you, Ui! Hey, I _told _you!"

One of the twins – if she had to guess, she'd say Seiji – yells excitedly down the hall. A girl with long dark blue hair is standing next to him, her finger pushing on her lip. Wide eyes consider Sadako and Ronin walking together, and her head tilts to the side. Her feet are placed awkwardly, toes turned inward on the floor; her other hand rests on her thigh, clad in red pants instead of grey.

"I think you're right, Seiji," she says seriously. "Maybe they _are _–"

"SSH!" Seiji waves frantically. "Hey, don't say it!" he chokes out. "Ronin'll kill me!"

"What? Are you guys spreading rumors about me already?" Ronin says, sounding mock-hurt. "I just got back. Jeez, Kaori is better than you two."

The girl's hands go to her hips. "Man, Ronin, you are so mean," she says, frowning.

"I'm just playing, Ui," Ronin says patiently. Her eyes go wide, and she smiles hugely.

"Oh! Well, then, Ronin, you are a real tease!" she exclaims. Sadako laughs, the anxious knot in her chest smoothly dissolving.

Seiji, however, is not happy. He runs down the hall and into a room, tears running down his face. "MAI! HEY, MAI! RONIN WENT AWAY TO VISIT HIS FAMILY AND HE CAME BACK WITH A GIRLFRIEND! AND NOW HE'S ALL DIFFERENT! HEY, MAI, HEY! GO KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO HIM!"

Seiji falls backwards out of the room suddenly, a pale fist springing out of the room after him. He wails and grabs his nose. A tall girl steps out after him, her fist still out in front of her almost like an afterthought. She spares a glance for Sadako, then returns to Seiji. "Be quiet, fool!" she hisses. Booting the boy aside, she saunters up to Sadako and Ronin.

She has pale, silvery hair, braided in coils around her head. Her eyes are a vivid green. They narrow at Sadako in inspection, and she sizes up the smaller girl. Sadako gulps and looks up at the looming face of Mai.

Mai walks in circles around them. "Hm. Orange hair, grey eyes, long bangs – needs a headband, hairclips, something – World of the Living clothes, weird shoes, a rack rivaled only by the Tenth Lieutenant – you're pretty cute, you know." She smiles at Sadako, who feels like she's just passed some sort of test. She lets out a breath of relief and smiles back at Mai.

"So she's your girlfriend, Ronin?" Mai says, staring hard at him. "Man, you move fast. You were gone for a week? Jeez. Well, girl, don't be fooled. He may seem big and cool, but in reality, he's smaller than a – "

"You can stop there, Mai," Yuuki's voice calls from the room. "I don't want to know."

Sadako is bright red. She looks up to see Ronin's face darker than his hair.

"Mai…" he chokes out. "Mai…h-how –"

"Ha! he's not denying it!" Mai cackles. She rushes to Seiji and crouches over him. "Hey, Seiji! Did you hear that? Ronin didn't even deny that he's smaller than a –"

"I said, you can STOP!" Yuuki yells from the room, and a magazine comes flying out, hitting Mai on the head with expert precision. Her eyes flame, and she stands and stomps into the room, where loud thumping noises and cries of pain can soon be heard.

Ronin looks back down at Sadako. His cheeks are still red, but now he can manage a smile. "Well, Sadako," he says, "welcome to the Academy."

**Hey, I'm going to stop there. Next chapter will probably be more interesting, so yeah. Don't give up on me.**

**Anyway, for those of you who were wondering about their connection with Renji, please check out **_**The Death of Renji Abarai**_**, by me. No one else has read it yet, so you can be the first ~!**

**Review?**


	7. Human

**A/N: I'm going on an update spree! I have 5 days off for vacation, and since I have 5 stories, I'm going to try to update each one…Just don't laugh at me when it fails…**

**I got a surprising amount of hate for the last chapter. I'll put it down here: this **_**is **_**a story with OCs. If you don't like OC use, then please go read somewhere else. Thank you.**

**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and Viz Media, **_**Human**_** belongs to "The Killers" and Battle Born Studios.**

**Responding to some reviews here…**

**himelove22****: Yep, there will be a love triangle, sorry…I just love those things :D But the epic meeting will be very soon! So don't worry!**

**midnight03****: You're welcome. At the moment, however, I am retracting my offer for a beta, since from my personal experience it just takes too long for them to get back to you. But the fact that even one person liked this story enough to so much as offer service means a lot to me, so thank you.**

**Sadie****: Yep, she is, sorry. Oh and PS I love the name Sadie :) I named my cat that…anyway**

**:**** Okay first of all, when you start something with "I don't mean to be mean, but…" you are obviously going to follow it with an unnecessarily mean comment, so you may as well save your breath. Second, unless you can magically summon up five to ten students at the Academy for me to use I will continue using the OCs. Third, do you suppose that they would have just conjure up the name "Orihime" from thin air to fit her? No. Please be realistic even if you're gonna flame it. **

**Flower in the River****: Oh, YEAH…forgot about that important little piece of information! Oops. Just…forget about that for now, mmkay? Thanks.**

**nypsy****: Oh. I guess that makes sense. It's nice to see that there are people like you who read so much fanfiction and really take the time to review. Keep it up. Anyway, good guess. But I'm not revealing anything, so keep guessing. **

**makaykay15****: Yes, he does! I was hoping I didn't go too overboard on that, but I guess if it was that funny, then I did a good job. Noticed that you read TDoRA but didn't review it… :( Oh well. Thanks for taking the time anyway. And now to the chapter…**

_Pay my respects to grace and virtue, send my condolences to good. Give my regards to soul and romance; they always did the best they could…And so long to devotion, you taught me everything I know. Wave goodbye, wish me well, you've gotta let me go. __Are we human or are we dancers? My sign is vital, my hands are cold, and I'm on my knees looking for the answer… Are we human or are we dancers?_

"So, Miss...Abarai, what can you do so far?"

"Um...nothing?" Sadako gulps.

The inspector woman frowns. She had a square face, square glasses, beady eyes, and a very short, very unattractive haircut. "And you arrived in the Soul Society last week, correct?"

"Um...yes, ma'am."

The woman sighs and makes a note on her paper. "And where did you live when you were alive?"

"I don't remember, but I think it was Karakura Town, since I had on a shirt that said Karakura High School on it when I passed over."

The woman frowns. "What do you mean, you don't remember?" she asks. "Of course you remember."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't," Sadako says apologetically. "I woke up in the west Rukon District without even knowing my name. I actually still don't know what I look like."

"Actually, you look a lot like a woman we had our class learn about earlier in the year," the woman says. "Her name was..."

She trails off, looking into space. After a minute or two, Sadako clears her throat gently, and she starts. "Oh, my goodness. I completely forgot what I was saying!"

"It's okay," Sadako reassures her. "I do that all the time."

"Anyway, Miss Abarai, I just have to ask - are you related to the vice captain of squad 6 at all?"

Sadako starts. "Huh? Who?"

"You know, Abarai Renji," she nearly purrs. Clasping her stubby hands under her chins, she gazes off into the distance again. "He has the most loyal heart in Seireitei, with the manliest tattoos you'll see anywhere, long red hair that he ties up in a ponytail, and wraps in a white headband. His hair is the color of rubies, and garnets, and it is so beautiful..."

"No," Sadako says. "I took this last name from the family who took me in. But Abarai Renji sounds a lot like Abarai Ronin, the boy of the family and a student here at the Academy."

"Oh yes - Ronin," the woman says shortly, snapping out of her trance. "Well, it would make sense, seeing as they're blood brothers, wouldn't it?"

"Whaat?"

"Yes ma'am. You should get him to tell you the story. But here are some pictures - Ronin's from the Academy Yearbook last year, and Lieutenant Abarai's from...I don't know, a magazine or something." Blushing a little bit, she reaches into her desk and withdraws a book and a slip of paper. Flipping to a page, she places the paper on it and then slides to book to Sadako. "There. See?"

Sadako looks down at the book. On it is a picture of a man, staring intently at the camera. Despite his serious expression, he has laugh lines near his eyes and mouth, and he looks like the kind of man who likes a good time. Next to the picture is Ronin. If you excuse the fact that Renji has black eyes and tattoos covering his neck and forehead, he and Ronin do look a lot alike.

"Yes, that's interesting," she says. "But, um, weren't we in the middle of an interview?"

"Yes, of course," says the lady. She withdraws the book and closes it with an abrupt snap. "And back to the interview. You posses no skills in the arts of either sword combat or Kidô but you decided to enroll in the Academy anyway?"

"Yes," says Sadako nervously. The lady nods and writes something else down on her paper. She then lays her pen down and looks up at Sadako.

"You made a good choice, young lady," she says seriously. "Your Spiritual Pressure is in dire need of attention. Please go through the door to my left. Have a nice day."

"Sadako starts. "Wait – that's it? That's the whole interview?"

"Please do not make me repeat myself," the woman says shortly. "You'll find the next part of your interview in the door to my left. Thank you very much."

Weirded out, Sadako rises to her feet, watching the lady intently, half expecting her to say "Actually, just kidding." But she doesn't. Still unsure, Sadako walks across the room and, taking one last look behind her, opens the door and slips through.

Inside is a man. His back is to her, and he is bent over, organizing something. When he hears the door close, he straightens, whirls around, and nearly falls into his pile of whatever he was organizing.

"Señorita Abarai!" he exclaims. "Welcome, welcome. I am Señor Francisco and I will be outfitting you for a uniform today!"

He claps his hands, looking excited. He has black hair, which is thinning and disheveled-looking, and a furry mustache crawling across his upper lip. His face is tan and lined, and his black eyes sparkle with mirth. A tape measure is slung across his broad shoulders, and behind him there seems to be an insane amount of red, gray-blue and white fabric.

"So. Your measurements, please…?"

For some reason, this sounds very dirty to Sadako. She blushes. He waves her embarrassment aside. "Please hold out your arms," he says.

First he measures the length of her shoulders. Then the length of each arm. He measures from her shoulder to her ankle on both sides. As he measures, Sadako asks, "Are you going to write this all down?"

"No, Señorita," he says. "I can remember it. My memory is quite good for this, as it is my job." He chuckles to himself. "Hold still, Señorita, it will be just a few more minutos."

Sadako does what he asks. He has measured what seems like every part of her body before he steps back.

"You may go, Señorita," he says. She hurries into the next room, gratefully closing the door on the strange Señor Francisco and his measuring tape.

In the next room is a small woman with brown hair tied back in an aqua bun. She turns when she hears the door opening, and Sadako sees the white banner wrapped around her arm with a wooden badge. She looks surprised for a moment, her brown eyes widening, before she recovers herself and smiles.

"Hello, Abarai-san," she says.

"You can call me Sadako," Sadako says, smiling back. She likes this woman already.

"I'm Lieutenant Hinamori of squad 5," says the woman. "But you can call me Momo." Her smile falters for a moment. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

Sadako shrugs. "Maybe. I don't think so, though."

Momo blinks a few times. "You look familiar," she says, then waves it off. "Well, anyway, that's not important. I'm here on specific orders from the head of the Academy to help you harness your powers – since I'm pretty good at Kidô, they called me in."

"Oh," Sadako says. She supposes she should be honored, but instead she just feels guilty that this woman had to come all the way out here to help her. "Thank you for taking the time –" she begins, but Momo stops her.

"It's my pleasure," she says. "Please, don't apologize. "One of my favorite things to do is help new students get a harness on their powers. And you need immediate attention – your Spiritual Pressure, if left as it is, could easily kill weaker beings if it manifests." Despite her dire words, Momo smiles again. Sadako can't help but smile back.

"Okay," says Momo. She pulls out a ball, about as large as her own fist. "Hold out your hand. Now close your eyes…feel your power. You shouldn't have any trouble locating it. I see that you've found it, now…let the power flow into your hand. I'm going to put this ball in your hand now. Focus on the ball…let your power flow into it…yes, that's it. Just like that. Good job! Now open your eyes, Sadako. That was beautiful!"

Sadako opens her eyes tentatively. The ball in her hand has risen off of her palm, spinning slowly through the air and emitting a strong glow. She casts an uncertain glance at Momo's broad grin.

"Is this…what's supposed to happen?"

"Yes," Momo beams. "Except it takes many people five or six times to master it. You got it on the first try! Excellent job, Sadako. I will enjoy working with you."

**!**

"Abarai Renji, vice captain of squad 6; Kurosaki Ichigo, substitute shinigami; and Arisawa Tatsuki here to see Captain Hitsugaya and vice captain Matsumoto," Renji announced to the receptionist.

The woman cast bored eyes at the three of them, then stopped. "It she a human?" the receptionist asked, interested.

"May we go in now?" Renji demanded, avoiding her question.

The receptionist glared. "You two may, but the human stays here," she barked. Renji leaned in close and whispered something in her ear. Her eyes widened and she shook her head briskly, terrified. Renji nodded, straightened up, and strode away, motioning for Ichigo and Tatsuki to follow him.

"What'd you tell her?" Ichigo asked, curious.

"I told her that if she didn't let us in, I'd lodge a formal complaint with my captain, the noble Kuchiki Byakuya," Renji snickered. "She fell for it hook, line, and sinker."

"That would scare me, too," Ichigo muttered.

Tatsuki walked in silence just behind them, taking in everything with wide eyes. They had found her a uniform to wear, and she was moving in it with ease, admiring the loose black fabric that looked so heavy but in reality was light as air and easier to move in than her karate uniform. They hadn't given her a sword – first, because there wouldn't be extras anywhere, except the Academy; and second, because she couldn't fight with one anyways and it would just get in her way.

Renji stopped at a large door and opened it without knocking. He poked his head in and said, "Oi! Rangiku! Where is your captain?"

"I'm right here, idiot," Hitsugaya said from behind Renji. Renji glanced behind him and raised his eyebrows at Hitsugaya.

"Hello, sir," he said, moving aside. Hitsugaya swept into the room, followed by Renji, Ichigo, and Tatsuki. Tatsuki started when she saw Rangiku.

"Oh, I know you," they said at the same time.

"Good, we don't have to waste time with introductions then," Hitsugaya said. "Lieutenant Abarai, please tell us why you are here,"

"Well, sir, it's concerning Inoue Orihime's death," Renji said, his face serious. "We'd like to see if we could find her. I was going to get approval to send out a team from each squad to search."

"And why would we want to do this?" Hitsugaya said, taking a seat at his desk. He picked up his pen and paused with it hovering over the paper, glancing up at Renji.

"We believe she may have a vast amount of Spiritual Pressure and if she does not learn to control it, she may end up killing herself. Again."

"And we care because…?" Hitsugaya said. "Look, Abarai. I'd love to help you, really I would. But I can't just send out all these men over something like a dead girl whose face I can't even remember. It's not worth –"

"Wait. What are you saying, Tôshirô?" Ichigo said. "You can't remember her face?"

"Now that he says it, neither can I," Rangiku said slowly. "I really hate to say it, but if someone asked me to describe her face right now, I would come up blank. Ichigo, I…" she said helplessly. "I can't help you."

**!**

"Kenny! Did you hear?"

"I hear a lot of things, Yachiru. Do you mean something specifically?"

"Of course she does, Captain. She always does."

"Be quiet, Baldy! And yes, Kenny, I meant something specifically. Hime died! You know, Jiggles? Yeah, her! She's dead, Kenny!"

"A shame. I liked her. She was quite beautiful."

"Aw, be quiet, Ayasegawa. Yeah, I heard it through the grapevine, I think. D'you reckon Ichigo'll come here to try 'n save her, Madarame?"

"I reckon so, Captain."

"So maybe if I look for her, I'll find Ichigo, and then I can fight him again."

"In a twisted sort of way, that makes sense, sir."

"Aw, be quiet, Madarame."

**!**

"Hachi? Why are Hiyori and Shinji fighting now?"

"Um…I think that that Orihime girl was killed, and Shinji got rather upset, Mashiro. Hiyori got tired of him moping around and decided to take it into his own hands."

"Yeah, except I asked Hachi, not you, Rose."

"Sor_ry."_

"You should be."

"Be quiet, Love. No one asked you."

"No one asked you either, Rose. But as usual, that didn't stop you."

"Why, you –!"

"Hachi? Why are Rose and Love fighting now?"

"God only knows, dear child. God only knows."

**!**

**You know what, it's 12:30 AM. I promise to make the next chapter super long if you guys bear with the awful shortness of this one. R&R?**


	8. Disappear

**A/N: Okay, so this is gonna be a long chapter. And the one you've all been waiting for: **_**they meet again SQUEE.**_** That was the little fangirl in me taking control for a moment **_**SQUEE.**_

**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo & Viz Media; **_**Disappear**_** belongs to "Hoobastank" and The Island Def Jam Music Group. Also, Saiko Shimada belongs to the author Skeleton With Skin in her amazing, **_**amazing**_** story entitled **_**Party in the Seireitei**_**. Seriously? One of the funniest stories out there, and so poorly read. Go read it, everyone, because it is AMAZING. Literally.**

**On another note, I would like to announce that my mother and I recently dyed my very short hair red (last weekend), and since my bangs were already blond it made the front part a violent strawberry color and the rest kind of maroon. Anyway, the teachers at my (private) school got mad and said "You have a week to wash it out" blah blah blah. So I washed it until it turned pink, but they weren't satisfied. So my mom and I attempted to bleach it, ending in disaster. My hair is now a strange cross between white, pink, orange, maroon, and its natural color which is brown. It looks pretty awesomesauce and I just wanted to share that little tidbit with you so you could get a peek into my strange life.**

**nypsy****: Yay! I'm glad you can't guess. I was afraid it would be very obvious. As for the Tôshirô thing, I think he is the hardest character for me to write. Out of any book, anime, movie, whatever. He comes off even **_**worse**_** in **_**My Espada Boys**_**, but there's a reason for that. And no, she doesn't have her hairpins – it's hard to mention that since she doesn't even know she used to have them. But yes, they are with Ichigo.**

**midnight03****: Thank you! I'll keep you in mind.**

**himelove22****: ICHIHIME ALERT: IN THIS CHAPTER THEY MEET hope you're happy…**

**Misha****: Thanks for the love alert :) **

**makaykay****: What kind of a question is that? DUH, he will prevail. What kind of an Ichihime fic would it be if there wasn't any Ichihime?**

_There's a pain that sleeps inside, it sleeps with just one eye and awakens the moment that you leave. Though I try to look away, the pain it still remains, only leaving when you're next to me…__So I stand and look around__, __distracted by the sounds__of everyone and everything I see. And I search through every face__without a single trace of the person that I need. Do you know that every time you're near__, __everybody else seems far away? So can you come and make them disappear? Make them disappear, and we can stay…_

_She's surrounded by gray mist that envelops everything except the figure. She can't see the eyes of the person standing in front of her, because their head is bent. Their hair is black and spiky and short. Their mouth is open slightly, and they're breathing hard, hands on their thighs. They're dressed in a white button-down shirt with a red tie and a short gray skirt._

"_Orihime!" the person gasps, and suddenly looks up. It's a girl – definitely a girl. She has black, anguished eyes. "Orihime, where are you? I've been looking everywhere. Where _are_ you?"_

"_I'm right here," Sadako says, reaching out. "I'm right here."_

_But the girl looks away. Her eyes are darting wildly around, never making contact with Sadako's. "Orihime! Orihime, where are you! Come out! Come out where I can see you!"_

"_I'm right here!" Sadako cries, but the girl doesn't hear her. Sadako reaches out her hand to grab her shoulder, shake her, tell her she's right here, but her hand goes right through. Horrified, Sadako watches as the gray mist rolls forward, closing in on her as Tatsuki turns and runs away._

"SAAAA-DAAAA-KOOO!"

Sadako is jerked awake by Seiji's loud and annoying voice. Her futon bounces underneath her as the boy jumps on it violently, making her head jerk up and down. She shoves out with her hand and connects with something, closing her hand around it in a fist. She then hears a loud wail and the side of her body seems to explode with pain as Seiji falls on top of her, tripping because of her grip on his ankle.

"Oww!" she yells.

"Seiji!" Mai yells. "Not this early, butthole!"

"Sorry!" Seiji wails. "I just wanted to wake Sadako~!"

"Wake her up like a civilized person!" Mai shouts back at him. "Man, what went wrong with you? Your brother is so calm! And you're so, so screwed up!"

"Uhhh…" Ui yawns.

Sadako opens her eyes a crack. "Could you please get off me?" she squeaks.

"Yeah! Get off her!" Mai seconds. "Do you want me to call Ryuu?"

"Did someone say my name?" says the deep voice of Mai's boyfriend, Ryuu. He appears in the doorway, rubbing sleep out of his ice-blue eyes, his black-red hair skewed. His pajama pants hang low on his hips, and his bare chest ripples with the movement of his muscles.

"N-no!" Seiji says anxiously.

Sadako pushes a little on Seiji. "Um…"

"Hey…where's Sadako?" Ui asks. "I don't see her…"

"Seiji…" _Push. _He isn't budging.

"What's going on here?"

Everyone freezes when they hear Ronin in the doorway. He does not sound happy. At all. Seiji is blocking his expression from Sadako, but she can guess that he looks super pissed.

"Seiji, would you please remove your behind from Sadako," Ronin says icily.

"Right away!" Seiji exclaims, and jumps off of Sadako. She quickly pulls up a bed sheet to cover herself – she doesn't think pajamas are really the best thing to be wearing in front of boys. If she'd known that everyone would be coming down, she would have woken herself up earlier and gotten dressed.

Ronin comes closer to her. "Are you okay?" he says, sounding worried. His chest is also bare, his pants low-slung. His hair is pulled into a quick ponytail, and it's a lot longer than when it's in the braid. It's got to be about 3/4 of the way down his back to his butt. Sadako blushes and tries to steer her thoughts away from his butt.

"Um…yeah, I'm fine."

"SADAKOOOO'S BLUSHINNGG," Seiji shouts.

"She's always blushing," Mai snaps, which is true. Sadako's been at the Academy for about a week now, and she finds herself blushing more than not.

"Well, everyone needs to get ready," Ryuu reminds everyone. "Today's our day off. We need to hurry if we want to make it to the markets before they sell out of all the good stuff."

Seiji cheers and runs out of the room, followed by Ryuu and Ronin. The latter turns and gives Sadako a parting look before following the others. She watches the stark contrast of his long hair against his toned back and shivers a little.

"So," Mai says, plopping down on Sadako's bed. "Seriously. You need to _tell us_."

"She needs to tell us what?" Ui says, confused.

"I need to tell you what?" Sadako seconds.

Mai rolls her eyes. "_Duh,_" she says. "About _Ronin."_

Ui's eyes light up. "Yeah, yeah!" she chatters. "Oh, like what's going on between you and stuff."

Sadako fidgets. "We should probably get ready," she says. But Mai giggles. "Don't think you can get off _that_ easy, Abarai Sadako," she says. "I want some gossip and I want it now."

Sadako slides off her bed and goes hunting for her uniform. "There's really nothing," she says. "Ronin and I are just friends. That's all."

Mai pushes out her lower lip. "Aww, come on. There must be _something_ else."

"Nope," Sadako says. "Nothing."

Well, there isn't anything _right now,_ at least. Yes, it's true that Sadako's dead heart kicks up whenever Ronin's around, and it's true that he's way more affectionate with her than he is with Ui or Mai. But that doesn't mean anything…does it?

She hears a loud sigh as she quickly slips out of her pajamas and into her uniform, still a little embarrassed of her anatomy. "Bor-_ing_," Mai huffs. "You are so boring."

"I'm sorry," Sadako says automatically, bending over to try to find her socks and sandals. She locates one sock and pulls it on, then gets on all fours to find the other one. She finally locates it and flips it right-side out before pulling it on as well, strapping on her sandals. She straightens to see Mai and Ui still sitting on their respective futons.

"You guys should probably get ready," she says, moving into the bathroom as they spring up and begin to get ready for the day.

Sadako brushes her teeth and then washes her face, falling into her routine. It's been two weeks now since she woke up in that alley. But what was she _doing_ there? How did she get there?

Her heart rate accelerates as she thinks about her dreams. Nightmares, really. She had the third one just now, tonight. _But what was it about?_ She can't remember for the life of her, and it is _so frustrating._

She sighs, runs a brush through her hair, and pushes a headband that she borrowed from Ui into her hair. After looking hard at herself in the mirror (she finally found one), she pulls it out, brushes her hair again and pushes out past the other two girls and into the hall.

Yuuki is out there already. His nose is buried in a magazine as usual. He pushes his glasses up on his nose and says without looking up, "You look quite dashing in that uniform, Miss Sadako."

"Umm, thank you, I actually think the red kind of clashes with my hair, but –" She stops. "Why do you say that?"

He pushes the magazine toward her. It's some kind of Academy catalog, or weekly publication or something. The publication date is today. She glances at the page he was on and then flips to the front cover.

There she is, on the front. She's got a handful of books propped on her shoulder, her training sword on her belt (she still hadn't made contact with her zanpaku-tô after nearly a week of training), and she's walking down the path from the dorms to the main campus. Next to her is Ronin, looking down at her, while her head is angled up at him. He's gesturing at something, making a point, his books tucked under his arm. Rubitori's hilt flashes at his waist, the golden spread wings catching the sun. The photographer had caught them in mid-step – one foot was in the air, and Ronin's long sleeves were swinging at his side.

Her mouth falls open.

"And of course, Mr. Ronin looks splendid as well," Yuuki murmurs.

Sadako's mouth opens and closes a few times. Yuuki slides the magazine out of her hands and starts reading again as the rest of their friends emerge.

"Let's go!" Seiji cheers, and all seven of them leave the dorms.

When they get outside to the market, finally, it's already hot. Sadako shades her eyes against the sun, looking at all the vendors and colored flags around her. She inhales deeply, smelling all the food.

"I really, really want some wasabi on toast right now," she says with her eyes closed. When no one responds, she opens her eyes to see all her friends staring at her.

"What?" she says.

Seiji makes a face. "Wasabi on _toast_?" he asks. "Groooooooss."

Sadako shrugs. "I'm just being _honest_," she says, and the subject drops.

They tour the stalls for about two hours. They have everything there: from jewelry to pastries, clothing, sandals, zanpaku-tô decorations, hairpieces, even pets. She has to drag Seiji away from an _I –heart- Seireitei _tunic multiple times. She and Mai and Ui _ooh_ and _aah_ over a book filled with illustrations of nineties-level Kidô in the works and they're about to buy a step-by-step instruction book when Ryuu comes over and informs them crossly that it's just a huge scam. The shopkeeper looks like he's about to scream and nearly beats Ryuu over the head with the book, but Ryuu ducks, and, laughing, they make their escape.

At noon, they fall into chairs, each clutching a large pastry. Just as Sadako is taking her first bite, there's a large commotion and the crowd suddenly floods the curbs. Sadako leans forward.

"What's going on?" Ronin asks, peering down the street with her.

"Looks like a procession of some sort," Mai, who's closest, says.

It is, indeed, a procession. A bunch of people are coming down the street, all dressed in the black robes of the Shinigami. In front is a man with black hair, strange tattoos on his face, and filmstrip on his neck and biceps. He looks strangely familiar to Sadako. She looks over at Ronin to ask him if he knows where she might have seen him, but Ronin is pale and breathing hard. Then she remembers – this is Shûhei Hisagi, Ronin's idol. He had a poster of him in his room.

"Lieutenant…Hisagi…" Ronin breathes as the man nears them. He seems to be with his subordinates, laughing with them. He looks over and catches sight of their group, his eyes narrowing when he sees them.

"Do I know you?" he calls lazily to Sadako.

"No, sir!" she shouts back promptly, her face coloring with embarrassment.

"You look kind of familiar," Hisagi says.

"I've never seen you before, sir!" she informs him. "Never in my entire death!"

Hisagi bursts out laughing and keeps walking on past them. The others stare at her in amazement.

"Wow~!" Ronin says, but is cut off by more commotion up ahead. Sadako can see a little bit of spiky red hair, _bright, ruby_ red hair, and a few dashes of orange. She looks back at Ronin in amusement.

"You were saying?" she asks him, laughing. Her eyes sparkle. Ronin grins down at her.

"Looks like the Ninth Lieutenant has taken a liking to you," he says.

"Looks that –"

"**ORIHIME!"**

Sadako turns at the sound of the roar. Everyone in the market suddenly goes quiet as she sees a man with orange hair, a black _shihakusho_, and a zanpaku-tô nearly as long as his body. His eyes are locked on her and he's barreling through the crowd just as fast as his legs can carry him.

He reaches Sadako and throws his arms around her. She stiffens in his unknown embrace and then gives a relieved sigh of thanks when he releases her, only to have him grasp her face firmly in his hands and, ignoring her friends' alarmed shouts, crushes her lips to his.

**!**

-_Flash Back To This Morning_-

"Look, Ichigo, I think we should just meet up with Shûhei and see what he says."

"But he already forgot, Renji. Are you stupid? Everyone forgot what she looked like - including you!"

Ichigo paced back and forth. They were deep in the squad 6 barracks, in Renji's room. It was Ichigo's first time being in Renji's room, even though the red-haired lieutenant had been in his own room multiple times, but he could poke around later. Right now he was walking back and forth and the foot of Renji's bed, chewing his thumbnail, his sandals making annoying squeaking sounds that were beginning to give Renji a headache. Tatsuki was standing in the corner, her arms crossed; and Renji himself was lying back on the bed, his arms crossed behind his head and his knees hanging off.

"It can't hurt." Tatsuki spoke up from the corner. "Look, Ichigo, we honestly have nothing to lose at this point. I hate to break it to you, but it's been a week. If this dude Shûhei can help us, that's great. If he can't, well, we need to come up with a new idea. But this is all we have right now."

There was a silence that was broken only by the squeak of Ichigo's sandals on the floor. Renji gritted his teeth.

"Why are we asking Shûhei for help, again?" Ichigo asked.

"I told you, he's in charge of the newspaper. Someone might have told him something. Plus, we can put an ad in the paper."

Tatsuki sighed. "Look, if you want to get to the market in time, you're going to have to hustle. He's going to be gone by the time we get there - you do realize that, right?"

She turned away and muttered "soul reaper newspaper" under her breath.

Ichigo kept pacing. Renji bolted upright. "STOP!" he yelled. "STOP SQUEAKING!"

Ichigo stopped. He looked at Renji. "What?"

"I said, _stop!"_ Renji yelled. "That squeaking sound. It's annoying!"

Ichigo groaned in exasperation. "Okay! Fine. Let's go."

"Finally!" Tatsuki said, throwing up her hands. "Let's go."

As they left, they passed a white-haired girl in the hall. She was slender and had an eye patch on her left eye. "Hey, Abarai," she said "Can you -?"

"Not right now," Renji said. "Kind of in the middle of something. See you around."

"Just because you failed the best friend test doesn't mean you have to get all mean!" she shouted. Renji stiffened, but didn't look back.

"Who was that?" Tatsuki asked, once the girl was out of earshot.

Renji sighed. "My third seat. Saiko Shimada. Let's go." He didn't seem eager to discuss the subject, so Ichigo and Tatsuki decided to let it drop.

They burst out of the barracks and into the fresh air. Ichigo still was reluctant. He was gripping the handle of Zangetsu nervously like he was afraid someone was about to mug him. He also kept glancing around, making Tatsuki nervous as well, leaving her clenching and unclenching her fists like a nervous twitch. She glanced around a few more times, scratching her neck still.

It was just so hard to take in. She was in a whole 'nother world. A world where magic existed and people walked around talking to bits of metal like they were legit people. Or animals. Or other types of living things. Even Ichigo and that nutcase Renji did it – Renji more so, while Ichigo addressed his oversized man-hacker as simply "old man".

Bizarre, right?

And that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was how everyone took this so freaking _seriously_. It was like a military. Everyone had their place in the chaotic swirl of things. They were always _right on schedule._ Always. And they all had positions, and had to address each other by their ranks and whatnot. Seriously, it seemed like a lot of work just to keep the deaddies in line.

Well, she wasn't going to complain. This was the most interesting thing that had ever happened (except for when that butterfly man had attacked her hometown). She wasn't about to just give it up. The one thing that would make it better…is if Orihime were here with her.

But of course, that's what they were there for.

Tatsuki came out of her trance and saw that the other two had managed to get pretty far ahead of her. She shook her head and ran to catch up with them.

Renji had his finger out, and in a moment a black and red butterfly settled on it, opening and closing its wings slowly. Renji cupped it in his hands and murmured to it, and the butterfly fluttered away.

"What did you do that for?" Tatsuki asked.

"That was a hell butterfly," Renji said. "It can send messages to anyone in Seireitei as well as transport Shinigami through the portal world. I just now sent a message to Shûhei to let him know we were coming."

Tatsuki looked up. Above her, she could still see the butterfly, flying peaceably away, trailing small amounts of glitter from its black wings.

They walked for a long time. The sun had risen steadily to almost directly above them when they finally caught sight of the marketplace. Tatsuki's feet were aching but she didn't dare say anything about the sandals, afraid that it might offend someone. She hobbled up to the crest of the hill with Ichigo and Renji and looked out over the market.

It seemed to be set up for some kind of festival. Tatsuki could see, from her viewpoint, from one end to the other. There were hundreds of square white tents that had been set up and had vendors inside selling goods. The majority of the people had on white tops and either gray or red bottoms. They all scampered and scurried around just like normal living teenagers. In the distance, she could see a large campus-like arrangement of buildings. Behind them, she could just make out the white tower that Rukia was held in against the blue of the summer sky.

"Who're the people in the white, gray and red uniforms?" she asked Renji.

"Students at the Shinigami Academy," Renji said, pointing to the campus-like buildings. "The ones in gray are the boys, and the ones in red are the girls. They must have the day off today for the festivities."

"Did you go there?" Ichigo asked.

"Yep, sure did – that's where I met Izuru, Momo, Shûhei… and Aizen," he added. "Mind, he wasn't a student at the time – he was already a captain. Gin Ichimaru was his lieutenant."

"Aizen…that's the purple butterfly, right?" Tatsuki confirmed. When Renji burst out laughing, she took it as a confirmation.

"Let's go down," Renji said, pointing once he'd recovered. "There's Shûhei's procession already. If we hurry we may be able to catch him at the end."

They ran together down the hill and paused at the entrance to the market. People swarmed around, jostling around vendors. Ichigo ran in quickly and came out with some pastries, which they each basically inhaled. Then they set out to meet Shûhei where their paths might cross.

Finally they caught sight of him. There was a small lull as he stopped to talk to someone briefly at the curb. He then saw them and hurried to catch up and say hello while Ichigo strained to see who he'd been talking to.

"Hey, Abarai, Kurosaki. And you're…?"

"Arisawa Tatsuki," Tatsuki said.

"Are you in the Gotei 13?...I don't remember seeing you around."

"No, I'm one of Inoue's friends from the World of the Living," Tatsuki said, stretching a smile on her face.

It was then that Ichigo saw who it was that Shûhei had been talking to.

All sound and other movement ceased. His vision seemed to focus on that one object steadily, unwavering in his astonishment. She was dressed like a student: clad in those red pants that went beautifully with her long orange hair. She was talking to someone, but Ichigo couldn't tell who. Blood was roaring in his ears when he heard Shûhei say:

"Hey, there's a pretty redhead back there you might be interested in…"

Ichigo barely heard him. It seemed as though everything began to happen in slow motion. He pushed past Tatsuki, felt his mouth open. Heard her name leave his throat in a roar. Saw her turn her head, her beautiful gray eyes widening in bewilderment. He ran, ran so fast, though it felt like he was moving through molasses.

Finally he reached her. He didn't wait, didn't hesitate: he swept her up in a fierce embrace, clutching her to him; letting his muscles remember, his mind finally relaxing, letting it go with an _Aahh…_of relief.

_Do it._

He didn't stop to think twice. He let her go for an instant, but then grasped her face with his hands and slammed his mouth on hers. He felt her eyes go even wider, felt her attempt to struggle and immediately released her, frowning. Why did she resist? She had said she loved him, after all…

"I missed you so much," he said, sweeping her into another frantic hug. When she pushed at him again, he released her once more. He opened his mouth to ask her the matter, but her gray eyes stopped him in his tracks. She opened her pink mouth, the one he'd been waiting to see, waiting to kiss since the day of her death.

The worlds she emitted made him feel as if she had just died all over again.

"Who are you?"

**Holy cheezits :-O Epic reunion… **

**Oh, and P.S.: Did anyone go trick-or-treating? I did. I went as L from Death Note. So awesome…No one recognized me…-sobs-**

**R&R, maybe?**


	9. Mine

**A/N: Quick little note: _Bleach_, volume 21, page 52, panel 1: Byakuya's face = I laugh every time I see it :) And also, before you read this chapter, I would _highly_ recommend that you read (and review) my story _The Death of Renji Abarai –_ it will greatly help your quest for knowledge if you do so…**

**Disclaimer: I own bleach! I mean the kind I wash my clothes with! Oh, you're talking about the manga? Okay, forget it. Also, _Mine_ belongs to Christina Perri and the Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United….(something) I don't know the rest of the name, it goes off the screen of my iPod :) So yeah, responding to some reviews here…**

**midnight03: Maybe, maybe not…hehehe**

**himelove22: Ooh yes I love cliffhangers they annoy people soo much:) lol and yeah I know talk about awkward O_o**

**nypsy: Yeah it's gonna be weird with Ronin & Renji…let's see how _that_ plays out. I have it all planned, so go ahead and speculate if you like. I'm SUPER surprised you haven't figured it out already, I was sure you'd be right on top of it…whatever, it just makes it better, the suspense I mean.**

**saga: hahaha CONFUZZLED…I know what you mean.**

**Misha: Yay ! Suspense! Gotta love it, honey. This is gonna be a tense, awkward chapter, I promise…**

**whitechan16: Wow, I can't believe something I wrote was _heart stopping_, I was not aware that I was that good! Oh and by the way, you're the first person to comment on my L costume, and yes, it kicked ass XD **

**luversblues: I totally get what you're saying. And I'm glad you commented on it because I've actually been trying to tone her down a little bit. In my mind, she's more…_confused_…than she is in life. She's trying to re-discover herself, and figure everything out. I think she's feeling lost and not nearly as bubbly as usual. So thank you for pointing that out. I'm succeeding…in my quest… Now on with the chapter!**

_What? What might you do to find out why I can't love you? I can't love you! And who said it was cool to be asking me these questions? Your "Who? What, and when? Where? And _why?"_ are making my head spin! And when was it an option to put your lips upon my lips? And how did this happen? And why are you laughing? And how do I get back together again?_

"ORIHIME!"

A black-haired girl barrels toward Sadako next; her eyes wide and betraying every emotion from anguished to overjoyed. Overwhelmed, Sadako turns away from the suddenly frozen man in front of her to face the black-haired girl, who reaches her and throws her arms around her, squeezing her so tightly Sadako feels that she can't breathe at all. She gasps for air as the man turns to the girl, tapping her shoulder and saying hollowly, "Let her go, Tatsuki."

"What?" The girl releases Sadako, who stumbles backwards. Ronin is there, ready and waiting; he catches Sadako and she falls against his chest, still shocked. "What do you mean, _let her go?_ And who –" she whirls to face Ronin, pointing squarely at his face – "the hell are _you?_ What are you doing with Orihime?"

"I could ask you the same question," Ronin says stiffly. "And this is Sadako. I don't know anyone named Orihime."

Sadako's lips are tingling from where the orange-haired man had kissed her. She presses her fingers to her mouth and looks up at him to see him watching her, his eyes tortured.

"Sadako?" the black-haired girl shouts. "What are you talking about? That's Orihime, make no mistake. Orihime, come on," she says, turning her attention to Sadako. "Tell this loser who you are."

Sadako shakes her head, squeezing her eyes closed. "I don't know you," she says. "I don't…I don't…"

"She doesn't remember us," says the orange-haired man.

The black-haired girl stops. Her mouth falls open. "What…what did you just say?" she croaks, her whole body becoming still.

"I said she doesn't remember us," says the orange-haired man. His fingers flex at his sides; his expression could make a grown man cry. "Orihime doesn't remember us."

"Oh, my God~ Is that her? You guys found her!" says someone else, running up. This person, Sadako remembers – it's Abarai Renji, assistant captain of squad 6 –

_And Ronin's blood brother._

She feels Ronin stiffen behind her. She doesn't look up to see his expression, but she can imagine it must be as dark as a thundercloud.

"Um…did I miss something?" Lieutenant Abarai says hesitantly. "I was expecting a few more, you know, _happy_ faces…"

"Little late there, Abarai," Ronin says, his voice dangerous. Lieutenant Abarai looks at him and takes a double-take.

"Who…the hell…?"

By now Lieutenant Hisagi has arrived, his expression serious. He puts a hand on the orange-haired man's shoulder. "Come on, gang," he says. "Let's take this to the office."

**!**

After saying a quick goodbye to the rest of their friends, avoiding eye contact when asked what was going on, Ronin and Sadako follow the others away from the fair. Lieutenants Hisagi and Abarai glance back every so often to make sure they're still there. The orange-haired man is hunched over, seeming to cave over in on himself, looking more like a boy now than a man. And the girl's expression when she looks back at Sadako is betrayed – her eyes fill with tears, and the energy has left her frame, leaving her looking old and weary.

It seems like just an instant until they've reached a building. Sadako's brain is reeling. Her hand still covers her mouth like she can feel the imprint of his kiss there. Ronin has her bundled into his side, making his shaking body obvious to her. When she looks at his face she can see that it's drawn and sweaty.

Lieutenant Hisagi leads them into an office and sits Sadako and Ronin down across from the rest of them. He leans forward and says, "So, what's the story, now?"

"It all started when Orihime died," says the man with the orange hair. "It was about two weeks ago. She was killed by a Hollow in a park. I was the only other one there. It was aiming for me, but I –" He swallows. "I ducked, and then went for its head. Then the Hollow ducked as well, but it – it –"

"Okay, so she died," Lieutenant Hisagi says. Sadako is beginning to get a little nervous. _Two weeks? That's about when I woke up in the alley…_

"Anyway, we searched all over for her soul, but we couldn't find it. Anywhere. We all assumed that the guy – ahh, what's his name…shoot, I can never remember – anyway, the Shinigami assigned to Karakura Town had taken care of it. But then we talked to him and he said he hadn't seen her ghost. So we went ahead with the funeral and afterwards had a private burial, usually only for family, but since she lived alone and never talked about where we might find any relatives there was no way for us to contact anyone. There was a Hollow attack later, and Rukia's legs were broken. Without Orihime, there was no way we could heal her. So Renji and I set out to find her. Tatsuki followed us here. And that's the story."

Lieutenant Hisagi nods. Then he turns to Sadako and Ronin. "Care to introduce yourselves?"

"Well, I'm…I'm Sadako," says Sadako. _But is that who I really am? _she thinks. _Could this Orihime person really be me?_ "Who are you guys again?" she says, pointing at the girl and boy. "I'm sorry, I don't think I got your names."

Agony crosses the man's face. The girl stands up and says, "I'm Tatsuki. Arisawa Tatsuki. I've been your best friend since you – since _we _– were nine. We've stood together through everything. Protected each other from everything. If you remember anything –" her eyes filled with tears "-you've got to remember me. You've just _got _to."

"That's enough," Lieutenant Hisagi says gently.

"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo," says the man, and you can feel Ronin's jaw drop.

"Does that make her –" he pointed at Sadako – "Orihime _Inoue?"_

"That's Inoue all right," Kurosaki says. _Kurosaki? This man is Ichigo Kurosaki? I just got _kissed_ by one of the most famous men in the Soul Society? _Sadako feels her cheeks stain red.

"There's Orihime's famous blush," Tatsuki says. "I knew it'd come out sooner or later. Anyway, who are _you?" _She points to Ronin.

"Abarai Ronin," Ronin says flatly.

A shocked silence settles over the room. Lieutenant Abarai, who had been dozing in his chair, started. "Wait. What?" he said. "_Abarai_ Ronin?"

Ronin narrows his eyes. "You heard me. Do your ears need cleaning, Lieutenant Abarai? Or should I call you _brother?_"

"WHAT?" both the lieutenants shout, standing. Lieutenant Hisagi throws his arm over Lieutenant Abarai's face, blocking him from saying anything. "Wait. Wait. What the _hell_ did you just say?"

"I said, "'You heard me. Do your ears need cleaning, Lieutenant Abarai? Or should I call you _brother?_'" Ronin stands as well, his hands clenched at his sides. "Maybe you need to get your ears cleaned as well."

"Renji doesn't have a brother," Lieutenant Hisagi says stupidly.

"What do you mean by 'brother'?" Lieutenant Abarai says warily.

"Oh, so you need it spelled out for you. Hm. Well, generally brothers have the same mother, same father, usually share a few other siblings – why do you ask, _Renji_?"

"But – but – I don't have a mother!"

"You did once. When you were alive. Baka! How did you think you got on this earth, you miserable piece of flesh? Did you just think you magically appeared out of thin air?"

Lieutenant Abarai's expression said that he hadn't really given it much thought. Ronin sighed with exasperation. "Look, to make a long story short, you were born. You lived a day or two past your fourth birthday, you died. I was born a year before that. I lived to be a year or two past my eighteenth birthday. I died. Your death caused the death of two other people who passed on with me, and we lived in poverty for – oh, about a hundred years. And was there any word from you? No. Any sort of attempt to reconnect? No. Any support for your _family? _You guessed it – no! And while I was struggling to survive out in the Rukongai, you were here safe and sound in Seireitei, living la-di-dah, week to week, month to month, year to year – all the while _completely_ ignorant that you had a brother out there somewhere who was trying to survive _day to day._ And do you care at all? NO!"

Ronin turns and runs out of the room, his braid whiplashing against the bridge of Lieutenant Abarai's nose. Lieutenant Abarai blinks, his face pale.

"He's had that bottled up for a while," Sadako offers.

"I see that." Abarai sighs. He sits back down in his chair, followed by Hisagi. "Well, just another thing I can add to my long line of screwups," he says. "I'll see if I can talk to him later. Now, back to you."

Hisagi clears his throat. "Yes, back to you. Uh…did you want to say anything about what happened after you died?"

"I woke up in an alley two weeks ago," Sadako says, feeling uncomfortable now that Ronin's gone. "I couldn't remember anything. Not my name, not my face, not what I looked like. I was wearing –"

"-A Karakura T-shirt and sweatpants," Kurosaki says.

Sadako gives him a strange look. "Yeah. Anyway, Ronin's…um, adoptive sister Kaori found me, named me and took me home. Ronin was just back from the Academy and he took me back with him when he returned, which was about a week later. And, um…that's it, really."

Hisagi frowns, opening his mouth. But Kurosaki interrupts him. "Can I talk alone with Ori – Sadako for a moment?" he asks.

Hisagi nods uncertainly. "I suppose so." He, Abarai, and Tatsuki all stand and file out of the room, and Kurosaki moves over to sit in Ronin's chair.

"Look," he says, taking a breath, "I know this must be hard to take in. I realize it must be overwhelming. I'm sorry about what happened when I first saw you. But your last words –" He struggles. "Your last words were…were you confessing your love." He swallows. "For me. I didn't realize…I didn't realize you'd forgotten. I just…I thought it would make you happy, and I'm sorry." He ducked his head, waiting for her next words.

"It's okay, Kurosaki-kun," Sadako says.

His head snaps up, his eyes flaming with emotion. "You used to call me that all the time," he rasped. "I had just begun to teach you to call me Ichigo when you…when you…" He grasps her hand and turns it over, revealing her palm. The blue scribble is still there: IK WAS HERE. "I wrote that, to show you that the 'I' comes first," he said. "I've heard that when you die with a mark like this, it'll never come off…"

He pauses. "Oh, and I wanted to show you this," he said, reaching inside his robe. "The day you died, I was over at your house, helping you study. You'd missed some school because you were sick. Anyway, you were doodling right before we left, and this was on the paper."

He hands it to her. It's a drawing of him: his mouth slightly open, like he's about to speak; his eyes warm and looking straight at the drawer. "I drew this?" Sadako says, stunned. "You're joking."

"Look on the back" was his only reply.

Sadako turns the page. On the back is a picture of her and him together, doing what could only be described as "kissing passionately". She gulps and blushes tomato red, her eyes widening.

"I drew that?" she croaks, and Kurosaki-kun laughs at her expression.

"Yes," he says, sobering up. "Do you believe me now, Orihime?"

She looks at the top corner of the drawing, where she had written OI+IK=LOVE. She nods hesitantly, her eyes still glued to the page. She folds it into her robe, then looks up at Kurosaki-kun.

"Oh, and I have one more thing for you." He reaches inside his robe again, withdrawing something closed in his fist. He opens his hand, and Sadako peers in it to see two hairpins, each decorated with a blue flower gem. They sparkle in the lights overhead.

"These were a gift from your brother, Sora, who died when you were nine," Kurosaki-kun says. "They're also the source of your power – they house the Shun Shun Rikka. You wore them like this." He reaches for her head, sliding the pins neatly behind her ears, pulling her bangs out of her face. "If you've had trouble tapping into your power before now, it's probably because you didn't have them with you. I mean, that's what I think, anyway."

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun," she says, casting her eyes down.

"Don't do that," he says, putting his hand under her chin and drawing her head up. He smiles down at her. "The first step to remembering is calling me 'Ichigo'."

**Ended with a little Ichihime XD More to come if you R&R!**


	10. When The Day Met The Night

**A/N: Hey, all. It's meee~! Finally back, after writing that insane chap on My Espada Boys (34,000 + words) and I kinda feel bad about the neglect of my other fics. I'm a bad person :(**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or "When The Day Met The Night," that is owned by Panic! At the Disco.**

**Misha: Good, I was worried it would be too corny :-/**

**himelove22: Yeah, read the other one if you haven't already ..**

**nypsy: Yeah, I totally get it. Ronin needs to get over himself already. He's just overreacting. **

**midnight03: Yep! Thanks! She will! But shh. Don't tell anyone.**

**Magdalena88: Yeah, I agree…except sometimes I'll go for (cue confession) UlquiHime…sorry…but! This will turn out good, don't worry.**

**GameFreak: Sorry, it kind of is a love triangle…I hope I'm not losing a reader here…sorry :-/ **

**Chuain: Yeah he needs to get over it. Just bear with me, it's important to the story..**

**whitechan16: Thanks, that means a lot. Er.. no comment on the memories bit**

**luversblues: HAHAHA! I laughed soo hard when I read that! But remember, she doesn't remember liking Ichi, so…maybe she'll get embarrassed when/if she regains her memories, ne?**

**moonlightroruni: Nope, thanks..**

_When the sun found the moon, she was drinking tea in a garden under the green umbrella trees in the middle of summer. When the moon found the sun, he looked like he was barely hanging on, but her eyes saved his life in the middle of summer. So he said, "Would it be all right if we just sat and talked for a little while? If in exchange for your time I give you this smile?" Well he was just hanging around, then he fell in love and he didn't know how, but he couldn't get out…just hanging around, then he fell in love…_

"Her memories are completely gone, you say?"

Ichigo nods. "Yes."

"And you're positive that this is actually her?"

"Yeah, I'm positive." Ichigo scowls. "I can't believe _you_ don't remember her. It's not like you live in Seireitei or anything."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm saying maybe there's someone out there who doesn't want her to remember who she was. Maybe someone with power who didn't want her to take that away, I don't know. But that's the only explanation I can think of."

The woman in front of Ichigo, Tatsuki, and Sadako - _Orihime, it's Orihime now,_ she reminds herself again - sighs and pulls the long, thin cigarette from her mouth. Ichigo introduced her as Kukaku Shiba earlier, and she's wearing a red smock tied at the small of her back and a sarong opened up to her waist. Her hair is tied up in bandages with two pigtails flowing from it, and one arm ends in a stump at her shoulder.

Tapping the stick on the plate in front of her, Kukaku says, "Sounds like a high-level Kidô at work."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo says with a frown.

"I mean that it sounds like someone is duping the whole Soul Society. It would have to be someone captain-class or higher - but I don't see why anyone would do it. It just doesn't make sense to me."

She sighs and looks out. They're sitting outside on a wooden deck. Far in front of them stretches a grassy field, which is bordered by trees. The sun is setting, the sky in flame. Kukaku is sitting in the shadow of a giant chimney-type thing that stretches several stories high and seems to be painted over on top.

"Do you have any idea of what spell it would be?" Ichigo asks.

Kukaku shakes her head. "No. A huge memory-erasing spell such as this one has never been seen before by us, which is why I'm so puzzled. If I knew about the spell, I'd probably know a way to reverse it and would do so immediately. But I've never heard of it at all."

Ichigo slumps. Sneaking a look at his face, Sadak -Orihime sees that he looks like he's almost in physical pain. She can't help but reach over and is about to grab his hand when Ronin's face flashes in front of her vision and she snatches her hand back. He looks questioningly at her, and she blushes. Of course.

"Anyway," Kukaku sighs. "I think we're at a bit of a dead end here. The only person who I can think of who would do this would be Captain Unohana, but that's ridiculous to even think about. Retsu wouldn't hurt a fly."

Ichigo frowns. "Is it even possible that it could be someone not captain-class?"

Kukaku quickly shakes her head. "No. Couldn't be. Something powerful enough to deceive everyone in Soul Society? No. And why? I keep coming back to that." She puts her cigarette back in her mouth, closing her eyes.

It's a minute before anyone breaks the silence. Orihime is fidgeting on the wood, uncomfortable. Just as Ichigo opens his mouth, Tatsuki jumps up.

"So what do we do?" she cries. "We're not giving up. I have to have Orihime back!"

Kukaku regards her calmly. "Now, I don't recall ever saying anything about giving up," she said. "Calm down, woman."

"I thought I might find you all here."

Orihime looks around to see Ronin in the grass, his braid waving in the wind. He slumps at seeing her next to Ichigo.

"Stand up straight, you look like L," Tatsuki snaps.

Ronin ignores her, coming over to sit with them. "What's going on?"

"We're at a dead end," Kukaku says. She cocks an eyebrow at Ronin. "Care to enlighten me on who the hell you are?"

"Abarai Ronin, ma'am," he says respectfully, bowing over his thighs.

"He's my friend," Orihime adds as an afterthought.

Ronin winces against his thighs, and then straightens up. Ichigo smirks at his expression, leaving Orihime confused.

"What?" she asks, confused.

"Ronin just got friendzoned," Ichigo mutters.

"What's that?"

"Sadako," Ronin interrupts, "I need to know what your plans for school are. It's the weekend now, but if you're coming to classes tomorrow, you need to come back with me now." He brushes a random bird from his shoulder.

"Oh!" Orihime jumps up. "Of course I'm going to class tomorrow! I have to. I'll be going, Kurosaki-kun. See you tomorrow!"

"Wait," Ichigo says, standing as well. "We should walk you two back."

"It's fine," says Ronin. "I'm perfectly capable of defending Sadako."

"Oh yeah? Well, let me see it, then."

Ronin looks taken aback. "Oh. Uh, okay, then.." He pulls his sword out. "Spread your wings, Rubitori!"

His blade shimmers and dissolves in a burst of reishi; the two metal birds forming. Once they've materialized, they settle on Ronin's shoulders, looking at Ichigo with their ruby eyes, challenging him.

Ichigo slumps.

"Well, okay, then. You two have fun," he says, and Orihime leaps up, following the ruby-haired boy with the metal hawks away.

**!**

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, watching the figures disappear into the trees.

"I don't like him," he murmured. "I don't trust him."

"You just don't like having competition," Tatsuki scoffed. "All her life, she's only liked you. And now, watching her with someone else, you get jealous. Now you know how she felt."

"Huh? Jealous? But I never hung out with other girls," Ichigo said, surprised.

Tatsuki coughed, the words "Kuchiki" and "Rukia" distinctly coming from her mouth.

"Rukia's like my sister," Ichigo snapped. "Dating her would be like incest."

"There was Senna, too," Tatsuki reminded him. "Try to explain your way out of that one."

"Can I ask you two something?" Kukaku said. "I just wanted to make something one hundred percent clear. No one ever actually recognized her here, did they?"

"Not that I know of," Ichigo said. "There could have been someone that she never mentioned. But no one captain-class or higher."

Kukaku narrowed her eyes and looked out over the field again, leaving Ichigo and Tatsuki to fidget in an awkward silence.

**!**

Orihime and Ronin are also enveloped in silence, but this one is more tense. Rubitori is keeping the birds away from the pair, swooping at any that dare to come near. They're walking along a well-worn path in the forest; trees line the road, with some overhanging branches and leaves.

"Can I ask you something?" Ronin asks her, ducking under a branch.

"Sure."

"Do you think…do you think I overreacted? With the whole Renji thing?"

Orihime looks taken aback. "Uh…"

"I mean, he was only three when he died," Ronin says, concentrating on the ground. "D'you think I was being too harsh on him?"

Orihime blinks, not sure what to say.

"I feel like I wasn't being fair," Ronin continues. "But at the same time, whenever I picture his face…" He brings his hands up harshly, and both birds bullet into a tree, exploding the trunk into smithereens.

"You probably don't understand," he says, sounding frustrated. "I just...don't know what to do."

"I think you should forgive him," Orihime says. "He was three, you say? I think he's lucky to have even remembered his name. There was no way he could have remembered you, especially since you were just a kid."

Ronin hangs his head. "Yeah, but..."

They walk in silence for a while longer.

"Sadako?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you...do you really want your memories back?"

"Huh?" Orihime looks at him curiously, and then a smile spreads across her face. "Of course I do! I want to know who I was! Why?"

Ronin looks at the ground, his expression helpless. "But what if we can make new memories here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't want you to get your memories back."

There's a short, shocked silence. Orihime looks at him in shock, hurt welling up in her grey eyes.

"How can you even say that?" she demands.

"Because it's true," Ronin says angrily. "I don't want you to remember Ichigo Kurosaki or that Arisawa girl. I don't want you to remember your powers, your friends, your life before death."

"But why on earth not?" she says, her mouth pulling down violently at the corners. "I thought we were friends, Ronin, and I thought friends stuck by each other no matter what!"

"That's just it!" Ronin basically shouts. "I don't want that Ichigo sticking by you. I want him to go back to where he belongs and never come back! I don't want to ever see his face again. Our dynamic had just gotten started when he came in and screwed everything up. I hate him! I only want you to have memories of me, and not him!"

Orihime looks at him through new eyes, feeling betrayed. "How can you even say that?" she asks. Then a new thought hits her. "Wait...you weren't the one who made all of Soul Society forget about me, were you?"

Ronin is so surprised by this accusation that his anger is momentarily forgotten. "What? Of course not. Why would I ever do that?"

"Why would you say those things about me and my memories?" she shoots back.

"Now look here, Sadako, I -"

"Don't call me that," she says. "My name is Orihime."

**Think short and sweet. LOL! Ronin got unintentionally friendzoned! Look me in the eyes and tell me it wasn't funny...**

**Many clues in this chap! :) R&R?**


	11. Breath

**A/N: Hey, what's up, nerds. Just curious about something. Do any of you look up the songs I put on here? If you do, then you're awesome. If you don't, then you should. If you look them up before each chapter, you might get kind of an idea of what might happen in the chap. Not gonna lie –it's hard to find stuff that fits exactly. But. I have managed to do it for most of the chapters, so it's worth looking into.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, that would be cool. But I don't, and that's why it's so popular. Also, **_**Breath **_**is owned by "Breaking Benjamin" and probably some other people as well.**

**Ulquiorra: She would have never come up with me. I am far too original.**

**Me: Shut up!**

**Ulquiorra: -mutters-**

**Fang: -points- No one can ever call me 'emo' again.**

**Ulquiorra: What?**

**Me: Fang, get back to your fandom! And Ulquiorra, shut up! I need to respond to reviews!**

**Veraozo****: Why thank you.**

**Ulquiorra: Why do you take the time to do these…?**

**Me: I said shut up! –pushes annoying emospada out of frame-**

**Misha****: Of course I didn't forget. My updates aren't **_**that**_** irregular, are they? (kind of worried…) And yeah, there's always been zero competition, so hahaha Ichi…**

**himelove22****: She will, my friend. Patience is a virtue.**

**nypsy****: LOL. I can totally picture a Shinigami counseling session. /laughs That would be hilarious. **

**moonlightrurouni****: Ahaha, I feel like we're in a secret club because I'm pretty sure you're the only one who reads this story and **_**My Espada Boys**_**. Updates are going to be more often because I'm pumped to finally be finishing everything! /sings Ceeeelebrate good times, c'mon! Yayfulness!**

**: Hi, anonymous hater! Bitch if you're gonna hate grow a spine and log in so that I can hate back! Cuz you know what they say. Haters gonna hate! Potatoes gonna potate! Waiters gonna wait! Alligators gonna alligate!**

**whitechan16****: Speculate away, my friend. I will not give away anything.**

**GameFreak****: Yay, I'm glad you're actually a nice person, I forgive you. **

**HellYus****: I'm happy you're reading this. I know I'm reading something of yours but I don't remember what it is… /sweat drop & nervous laughter hehehehe…on with the chapter!**

_Is it over yet?__Let me in! So sacrifice yourself__ a__nd let me have what's left__. __I know that I can find__the fire in your eyes__. __I'm going all the way__ - __Get away!__You take the breath right out of me!__You left a hole where my heart should be__! __You gotta fight just to make it through…'cause I will be the death of you._

Ichigo was frustrated.

He didn't know what to do. He'd found Orihime. Before, he didn't really know what to do when they found each other. Would she want to go back to the World of the Living? Or would she want to stay in the Soul Society? It didn't matter. As long as he found her, had held her in his arms and told her that she was loved, it didn't matter what they would do next. He had spent all his energy just trying to find her.

But it was completely in vain. She had no idea of who he was - and worse, there was someone else.

He glared daggers into Ronin's back. The boy was walking with Orihime, laughing with Orihime. It was the weekend, and they had decided to go to Seireitei to see Rangiku. Ichigo was a bit apprehensive - he didn't know quite what he would do if the busty lieutenant didn't remember her favorite disciple.

He winced internally. That made it sound horrible.

"Kind of kills you inside, doesn't it?" Tatsuki remarked from next to him, her gaze on Orihime.

Ichigo was silent, but his lips were trembling. He swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. _Damn, when had he become such a crybaby?_ Then he remembered something. Oh, no...

"Shit," he swore suddenly, pulling out his phone. "Oh, crap. I never called Rukia...shit..." He dialed quickly and put the phone to his ear while Tatsuki chuckled humorlessly next to him.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Rukia, it's Ichigo."

There was a moment of silence. And then something exploded. Tatsuki watched as Ichigo winced and pulled the phone quickly away from his ear, cringing at the violent noise that came from it. He put it back.

"Yeah, we found her." He held the phone away from his ear again, rolling his eyes. "Sure, you can talk to her," he said, bringing the phone back to his ear. "I doubt she remembers you, though."

There was a long pause. A puzzled noise came from the phone.

"I mean she doesn't remember anyone. No one remembers her either."

Another pause.

"God, I don't know!" Ichigo shouted into the phone. "Leave me alone! I'm trying!"

He hung up abruptly and shoved the phone into his pocket with a dark expression on his face. "She pisses me off sometimes," he muttered.

Tatsuki laughed.

"Let's catch up with Orihime," he said. "I don't want her to be alone with that bastard for too long."

They caught up with the couple ahead of them, Tatsuki falling into place next to her friend and Ichigo keeping pace next to Tatsuki. Orihime smiled and then jumped when someone caught her eye.

"Aha! Konichiwa, Hinamori-san!" she called, waving. Ichigo recognized the fifth lieutenant - the one with the bun who had been almost killed by Aizen. She looked around at the voice, and then smiled when she saw Orihime.

"Konichiwa, Abarai-san!" she called back cheerfully.

"Do you know her?" Ichigo asked once they'd passed the small woman.

"Yep!" Orihime answered. "She's my Kidô instructor. She also helps me train. Oh yeah, Ichigo-kun! Guess what! I finally got my sword!"

"Did you now?" Ichigo asked, sounding impressed. Orihime's smile could have dazzled a blind man.

"Yeah! Want to see?"

She reached for the sword at her hip. Ichigo followed her movement. Before, the sword had been plain, with dully colored wrappings. Now it was colorful and bright with a flower-shaped guard in the same form as her hairpins.

"What's it's name?" Tatsuki asked.

"Well, it's not just one spirit inside," Orihime said, confused. "There are -"

"Six," Ichigo finished. "Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily, Ayame, Shun'o, and Tsubaki."

There was a long and awkward silence.

"Ahaha, but that's just a guess," Ichigo laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

"That's exactly right," Orihime said, her voice low. "How'd you know?"

Ichigo shrugged. "That's the Shun Shun Rikka. When you were alive, that was your power. I figured it'd be the same thing. And especially with this sword - let me see the hilt...?"

Lost for words, Orihime handed him the sword. He examined the guard carefully. It was shaped exactly like her hairpins, down to every seam and cut in the actual flower. The wrapping was blue with orange diamonds peeking through.

"Yeah," he said. "Just like the Shun Shun Rikka." He gave the sword back to her, and she put it back in her belt. "Any luck with it yet?"

"A little," Orihime said.

"That's good." Ichigo nodded. In actuality he had no idea what the hell he was talking about. He decided he should probably be quiet before he bit down too hard on the foot that he was slowly inserting into his mouth.

"Are we almost there yet?" Tatsuki asked grumpily.

"Yes." Ichigo cut a glance over to Ronin, who was being strangely silent. He noticed that the boy's purple eyes were facing straight forward, and his expression looked like he was struggling to keep them there.

"Okay, we're here," he said a few minutes later as they approached the squad 10 offices. He saw Orihime's jaw drop and her mouth form an 'o' at the regalness of the building; the imposing cross numeral representing 10 stamped above the door. He smiled at her honest surprise. It was what he loved about her.

They went in. The receptionist waved them in, her eyebrows raising a little at the student uniforms that Orihime and Ronin were clad in, but she didn't say anything.

They went back to the office. Ichigo was nervous for some reason. He chided himself. This was Rangiku. What was the worst that could happen?

_She might not remember Orihime._

He pushed that thought away. That wasn't possible. It just wasn't going to happen. Rangiku just had to remember Orihime. He didn't know what he'd do if she didn't.

"Knock, knock," Ichigo said by way of announcing himself. He pushed the door open. "Rangiku?"

The office was empty.

"Huh?" Ichigo went inside, followed by the others. "Where is she?"

"I don't know," said Tatsuki. "It's weird that the captain isn't here either."

"There's a note," Ronin said, picking something up off the desk. He read it out loud. "It says, _'Dear Shiro-chan, I went to visit our cute little fourth seat in the squad four barracks. He was cut up by an especially bad hollow out in the Rukon district. I might be back later. Then again, I might not. –Ran-chan.'" _He looked up. "If I was Captain Hitsugaya I'd have torn my hair out over this woman awhile ago. There's even a kiss mark."

"He's too proud of his hair," Ichigo sighed. "We should head to squad four. Rangiku's like the ultimate test. If she doesn't remember Orihime then I don't know who will."

They left squad 10. Making small conversation on the way there didn't improve the tension in the group. In fact, it just grew steadily more awkward as they got nearer and nearer to the medical squad.

As they entered, they looked around. There was a lobby in here as well, and they went over to sign in. As Ronin said his name, the receptionist looked up with a frown.

"Abarai Ronin, you said?" she asked.

"Erm, yeah," said Ronin.

"Um, you wouldn't happen to know an Abarai Kaori, would you?"

"Yes, she's my sister," said Ronin. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really," said the woman. "It's just that our third seat left about an hour ago, saying that he was going to visit a certain Abarai Kaori. I just remembered, is all. I'm sure that Third Seat Iemura had a reason for going there."

All the blood drained out of Orihime's face.

"What? What is it?" Tatsuki asked her worriedly.

"Third Seat Iemura?" she rasped.

"…Yes," said the receptionist, looking confused.

"Is he blond?" Orihime asked.

"Yes."

"Does he have glasses?"

"Um, yes."

Orihime looked sick.

"Why? What's wrong?" Ichigo asked her, his face a mask of puzzlement.

"Third Seat Iemura," she croaked. "He…he recognized me."

There was a stunned silence.

"I'm sorry. WHAT?" Ichigo nearly yelled.

"Third Seat Iemura. He was the first Shinigami I saw when I got here. I was walking up to the Academy with Ronin and he saw us. He said, "The ryoka…!" and then left really fast when we asked him what he said. Then I asked Ronin what a ryoka was and we got sidetracked. I completely forgot about it until now."

Ronin paled too. "And he's on his way to my house now."

"He's probably already there by now," Tatsuki offered unhelpfully.

"We have to go now," Ichigo said. He looked more furious than Tatsuki had seen in a while – like he was getting ready to kick some ass. "Tatsuki and Orihime, make your way on foot. Ronin, I hope you can flash step. 'Cause we're going there, and we're going fast. You better believe there'll be blood."

_No one messes with my woman and gets away with it._

**O_o**


	12. This Is War

**A/N: Guys, I'll admit. I'm friggin' pumped. And I'll tell you why – my favorite band is coming to Augusta, GA and my mom said I could go! O.o It's two hours away but totally worth it. I've been driving my friends crazy because I can't stop talking about it. I don't get to go to concerts that much because of money issues but my mom met the lead singer over the summer when he came to the hospital that she works at and I think I kind of made her feel bad that I wasn't there…the guy I'm telling you he is a sex god. The band is the Ready Set, look them up when you get done here. It shouldn't be legal to be that hot.**

**Ulquiorra: Can I come to the concert…?**

**Me: Sure you can, Ulquiorra! /ruffles hair But only if you're ready for pure awesomeness!**

**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to the amazing Kubo-sama and **_**This Is War**_** belongs to "30 Seconds To Mars".**

**foxfang: Always nice to hear people say that XD I do it all the time but don't expect people to do it for me…O_o I guess I'm a better writer than I think…**

**moonlightrurouni: If Ichi was my stalker, I'd…I'd…I'd probably die of a fangirl-induced heart attack. /clutches chest **

**himelove22: Yep he's gonna get his ass handed to him by Ichigo…ahaha**

**Veraozao: Yep he did! /has another heart attack**

**nypsy: Yeah I felt a little guilty about shortness of chapter…/-: But it had to be done! This chap should be a bit longer…**

**whitechan16: Tell me about it, everyone hates her /makes angry face She's my favorite character, down with the haters! Hime's amazing!**

**MiszIceQueen10: Breaking Benjamin **_**is **_**amazing, sadly no one I know agrees /tears Thanks for the compliments**

**Misha: Yay thank you!**

**.saint: Oh, my God you are amazing. It is so rare that people will join onto a story late and review (almost) every chapter as they catch up…! I love it soo much. Thank you, you're amazing, I love you :)**

**KurosakiCrystal18: Same to you, (almost) every chapter wow :D It really really makes me happy, thanks for making my day! Now to the story guys!**

_A warning to the people, the good and the evil: this is war! To the soldier, the civilian, the martyr, the victim: this is war! It's the moment of truth and the moment to lie, the moment to live and the moment to die - The moment to fight…to the right, to the left, we will fight to the death! To the edge of the Earth! It's a brave new world! It's a brave new world!__  
><em>

_That bastard was dead._

Ichigo had never been angrier in his life. How dare a lowly third seat mess with him like this? Hadn't he ever heard of him? The fool should have known better than to mess with Ichigo Kurosaki like that. And anyway, where in the world had he gotten the power from? The guy was a friggin' _third seat._ And of squad 4, no less. He probably had power that was marginally more than his sister Karin's. And Karin would never be able to dupe the entire Soul Society like Iemura had. Not that she would ever want to. Hopefully.

He felt the wind rush through his hair. Unfortunately the breeze wasn't doing a whole lot to calm him down. He didn't even have time to spare to be irritated by Ronin, who was flashing slightly behind him, his eyes narrowed in concentration. Ichigo had no idea of how to get to Ronin's house, but he wasn't about to let the ruby-haired punk take the lead. Instead, he tried to focus his concentration on finding the bastard's Spiritual Pressure. It was regrettable that he was so damned angry. It was hard for him to focus.

But then he picked up on another wisp of reatsu; the last one he was expecting to find in a place like this. His anger exploded over the top; he was seeing red.

Iemura could wait.

The Hollow was going to have to die first.

Luckily, the Hollow seemed to be in about the same direction as the faint sensation of Iemura. He was biting his tongue. Fury was making him shake; his Flash step exploded, leaving Ronin behind.

It took him about one more minute to make it to the place where the Hollow was. To his confusion, it seemed to be somebody's house; just on the outskirts of a market. It was surrounded by other, identical-looking houses. He didn't see the Hollow, but he sure as hell sensed it. And for some reason, he also sensed the cockroach Iemura.

Good. They were together. Maybe he'd be able to get it all out right away. Maybe he'd even be able to kill them both in one shot.

Ichigo landed neatly on the grass. His hands were shaking with anger. He strode furiously inside the house.

"COME THE HELL OUT!" he shouted. "WHEREVER THE HELL YOU ARE. GET THE HELL OUT WHERE I CAN SEE YOU!"

It didn't take long. He saw the blond man approach from behind the corner, pushing up his glasses smugly.

"Hello, Kurosaki," he said. "I knew you'd figure it out eventually."

Rage filled Ichigo. He drew Zangetsu and readied it. "I'm going to kill you," he uttered; it was a promise to himself, a promise to Iemura.

"Not just yet," said Iemura pleasantly. Ichigo didn't even blink.

"Why the hell not?" he growled.

"Well, don't you want to deal with him first?" said Iemura, gesturing. He smiled, and his glasses flashed. Ichigo followed his hand and saw the Hollow outside in the backyard.

_The Hollow that had killed Orihime._

He didn't think twice. With a roar he charged away from Iemura, bursting through the window, headed for the pig-headed Hollow that he had taunted that day in the park. Its words rang in his head; _I'll be seeing you, Shinigami. _Ichigo noted this with grim satisfaction that it was seeing him. Three weeks later, but he was there.

Ichigo would have his revenge.

With a roar, Ichigo made a mighty swing towards the Hollow. Again, it ducked. Ichigo kicked off of its tail and went for the arms, figuring that he could put the beast through as much pain as he possibly could before he finally killed it. But the Hollow had other plans. He sent his arm swinging towards Ichigo, sending him flying backwards and rolling through the grass. He flung his sword away from his body so that he didn't kill himself on accident, but the Hollow had used more force than he thought, and Zangetsu went spinning away from him.

He groaned and stood shakily, spying the glint of his blade far away, on the other side of the Hollow, who was grinning.

"Not so hot now, are you, Shinigami?" it roared at him. Ichigo swiped blood away from his eye. He didn't know when it had gotten cut, but he was sure wishing for Ikkaku's Hozukimaru medicine now.

"How the hell…are you so powerful?" Ichigo groaned.

The Hollow laughed in a manner that sent chills down Ichigo's spine. "Recognize this?" he cackled, holding up something that was clutched in his talons. Ichigo squinted through hazy eyes. He gave a start when he realized what the Hollow was holding.

It was his Substitute Shinigami badge!

_"A little warning would be nice!" Kon muttered, picking himself up. "Plus, what's with the harsh treatment? You could have used your special Deputy Badge or whatever the hell it's called!"_

_"I told you, I lost it," Ichigo muttered. He took a look around his room. "Be ready to act. I might be away for a while."_

_"Where are you going?"_

_"I'm going to get Orihime."_

But then he realized that something was different. He peered closer. The thing appeared to be broken in half.

"How it that helping you?" he said. "The thing's useless. There's no power in it…barely. Not enough to make you this strong."

The Hollow laughed again. "So naïve!" he shouted. "Clearly you've never tried breaking it before. This badge is sealed. All the power is locked inside. But the seal is only surface-deep. Break the badge, and you break the seal. Break the seal, and you get the power."

His next laugh made sweat roll down Ichigo's face.

"Where's the other half?" he managed.

"Right here."

Iemura's voice was right in Ichigo's ear. The boy spun away from the blond man, gasping for breath. Iemura's voice was amused as he drew his sword and held up the hilt for Ichigo to see.

Bound to the handle was the other half of the badge.

"So that's how you did it."

Ichigo and Iemura jumped apart from each other and turned at the sound of the voice. It was Ronin, standing just outside the door to the hut, his braid whirling behind him, the tiny frizz dancing on his head. He had his sword in front of him and at the ready; his violet eyes were full of anger.

"Spread your wings, Rubitori."

The sword melted on the seam, the inside part forming the smaller hawk, detailed down to every feather and marking on the claws; the outside part making a slightly larger, equally detailed hawk. The two birds settled on Ronin's shoulder, their razor-sharp talons making creases on his robe. Their ruby eyes glinted at Iemura dangerously, but the blond man didn't even flinch.

_Is that how brave my power is making him? _Ichigo thought. _Does he really think that those birds can't hurt him as long as the badge is attached to his blade? If so, he's wrong. That'll be the last mistake he'll ever make._

Next second he felt the wind of a blade whistle past his ear. Unarmed and not expecting, he dove to the side and rolled away from Iemura's blade. He then scrambled up in time to see Ronin direct the smaller bird with his left hand toward Iemura and saw the blond man turn and block it easily.

"You go get your sword and kill that Hollow!" Ronin yelled. "I'll deal with him!"

Ichigo hesitated. He wanted to kill Iemura so badly. However, the Hollow was the one who had killed Orihime. Actually he really wanted to reap both of their heads and hang them on a spit over a campfire and then do a primal war dance around said campfire. But if that happened, his dad would undoubtedly feel the need to join. And that was unnecessary.

"GO!" Ronin roared, so Ichigo meekly went.

Just seeing the Hollow sitting there smugly made Ichigo get mad all over again. He dropped into a fighting stance, wanting to leap over the pig-faced creature and grab his weapon. Only problem was, was that he was so out of breath. The Hollow noticed his heaving chest and let out a blood-chilling cackle.

"Feeling a little off?" he roared. "Want to know why? We broke the thing that transformed you into a Soul Reaper. Soon you'll begin to be a normal human again. The fighting you're doing is speeding up a process that would normally take weeks. If you take too long, you'll –"

"SHUT UP!" Ichigo roared. He charged at the Hollow, leaping into the air. "I don't care about that!" he yelled. "I'll just have to beat you and then fix everything all nice!"

"Easier said than done!" the Hollow laughed, and swiped Ichigo from the sky, making the boy land on the ground, all the wind getting knocked out of him. He lay panting on the ground like a fish out of water.

_I'm getting beaten by bacon,_ was all he could think.

Then he remembered something.

"I think you forgot," Ichigo said icily. "Zangetsu's not the only one living inside me."

The pig looked confused. "What?" it roared.

**Ooh. Letting us out, now, are you, King?**

Slowly, the Vizard put his hand to his face and then yanked down with the force of all his anger. His mask appeared, melting from his fingertips, solidifying with his determination. His fingers trailed away from his face, his now yellow eyes meeting the Hollow's.

"_You're done, pig."_ His voice rasped from his throat; shuddering, dark, dripping with intent. He vaulted easily over the Hollow, quickly drawing his blade from the ground and facing the now hapless Hollow.

"_I think you forgot._" His eyes stared unblinkingly into the Hollow's now fearful ones. _"You stole that badge from me when I was human. How could it have made me into a soul reaper? I used Kon to help me. And that was your mistake. Your last one."_

He was at the Hollow's throat in mere seconds. It took him but a single slice to finish the existence of the one who had ended Orihime's.

Putting his sword away, he turned around and froze.

Ronin was lying on the ground, his hair unbraided and splayed around him. And above him was Iemura, his blade high in the air, reflecting the sunlight.

The blade came down on the redheaded boy lying in the grass.

"_STOP!"_

_I do believe in the light. Raise your hands up to the sky! The fight is done, the war is won. Lift your hands towards the sun. Towards the sun…towards the sun._


	13. Last One Standing

**A/N: OMFAIZEN WE CLEARED 100 REVIEWS! AHH I AM SO FRIGGING PUMPED~~! Only two more chaps, including this one :D So this and one more. Yay, I'm so excited – you have no idea.. I need to finish all my in-progress stories so that I can start some more, and so far I've finished 2 of 7… O.o so I need to get to work.**

**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, and **_**Last One Standing**_** belongs to "Hot Chelle Rae" and the RCA/Jive music group. I know I already did an HCR song, but this one was just perfect.**

**MiszIceQueen10: Iemura's motives shall soon become clear. I love when people have the same taste in music as me! :D Too bad all of them are online D:**

**KurosakiCrystal18: Aha, yes…the writer's conundrum…what to do, what to do..**

**moonlightrurouni: I laugh out loud every time I read your reviews…I hope you know that. lol**

**TCWTHfan: I would say, if Ronin's dead then how can Hime heal him…? But then I realize – right, Ichigo's died like 6 times and she's healed him, so it shouldn't be a problem. :)**

**TheCatWithTheHatIsABitch: What an original anonymous name…Again, I said it because they left a nasty review without logging in – same as you, I see…It's a small world, I guess.**

**Flower in the River: There is a reason for Iemura's evilness, but you didn't miss it – hasn't been mentioned yet.**

**nypsy: Okay, no promises.**

**Veraozao: Thank you for that original review…Uhm. :D**

**foxfang27: Tutoring! Boring:) I'd rather read Ichihime fics too…**

**S0phi3F4wn: (took me, like, 5 minutes to type that…) Finally someone who actually likes Ronin! When I first thought him up, I wanted him to be an affable character but not with so much personality…and then the hate reviews kept coming in about him…and his personality actually shifted with all the dislikes he was getting, making more and more people dislike him…I'm glad to hear the someone out there sees the awesomeness that he was supposed to be. :) Now to the chapter~!**

_I need this like air in my lungs, this element tears through my bones, it keeps me fighting. Alive emotions that swim through my veins, a fever that shows in my face, I'm not hiding. Cold, the feeling of fear on my skin, dying to find a way in the silver lining. The stars, they burn out like dreams all around, falling like rain to the ground, but you're still shining… And this fire is alive in your eyes - Well I can barely breathe, and I can hear the dark arts marching, I won't go down easily! Stay here by my side, and we will be the last ones standing! Hold my hand and kiss me before the hearts collide!_

It was happening in slow motion.

Ichigo hadn't noticed the small little redheaded girl sprinting across the grass until it was too late; but she flung herself in the way of the blade, crying out as her blood arced across the grass. Beads clattered as she slumped over her limp brother, her glasses skittering away from her face, the lenses shattering.

Ichigo didn't know who she was – Ronin's sister, maybe – but right now, he couldn't deal with that. He picked up the broken badge from where it had fallen when the Hollow disintegrated, not taking his eyes off of Iemura. Just picking the badge up made him feel more powerful. He ran his thumb across the jagged edge, keeping his eyes locked on the frowning blond man.

"He was almost dead," said Iemura. "Pity the stupid girl got in the way." He raised his sword again and swung down hard –

-only to be met with a furious clash as Ichigo's sword blocked it. Iemura looked angry as he withdrew.

"Why are you protecting that stupid boy?" he said. "I thought you didn't like him."

"Not liking someone is not the same thing as wanting them dead," Ichigo said grimly. "But I have a question for you." He began pressing upwards with his blade, keeping his eyes on Iemura's – or at least, his sunglasses. "Why did you do all of this?"

Iemura flash-stepped away, but not too far. "All of what?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"Why did you make the entire Soul Society forget about her, for starters?" Ichigo said, trying to stay calm. "It doesn't add up."

"Maybe to someone as naïve as you," said Iemura. "However, to those in the world of power, it couldn't make more sense. Inoue Orihime is a strong woman. Her power far surpasses mine. If she was allowed to remember her strength, my captain would have given her my position for sure. On top of that, if my captain had gotten wind of her death, she would have sought her out and trained her personally. I may be just a third seat, but that position would not have been given to me elsewhere. I am weak; I wanted to hold onto what little power I had. It was easy to do with the help of your Substitute Shinigami badge. And I will never be caught – because the secret will die with you!"

He flash-stepped to Ichigo and attacked him. Ichigo brought up his blade numbly, his body going on autopilot as he digested this news.

"So basically what you're saying is that you killed Orihime just to keep your position of power," he said as they flew apart.

"I never said that!" Iemura said, his breathing beginning to get heavy. "I didn't kill her. I don't want her dead – just the opposite. I want her alive and away from this place!"

Ichigo flashed away, standing a good distance from Iemura, frowning. "Wait. If you didn't kill her and bring her to the Soul Society, then who did?"

Iemura waved a hand. "That Hollow, most likely," he said carelessly. "I imagine that when she was terminated, the Combat Pass that the Hollow was carrying performed an incomplete Konso, which caused her to lose her memory. I don't actually care in the slightest. It worked out for me either way." The man smiled. "But now that I've told you all of this, I think it's time – for you to die."

He attacked Ichigo with renewed fervor. "So why don't you stop talking and just kill me already?" Ichigo smirked. He was blocking easily, countering each of Iemura's strikes with a fluid match.

This man was so easy to read. Iemura did have power – power that he had acquired overnight with the possession of Ichigo's Combat Pass. He was not yet used to fighting with the new weight of his Reatsu, and his moves were clumsy and inexperienced. _This man was accustomed to healing, not fighting._

He didn't stand a chance.

"ICHIGO!"

Distracted at the sound of Orihime's voice, Ichigo turned. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Iemura grin with an unnaturally large smile. Feeling as though he was stuck in molasses while Iemura was free, his head slowly turned back to his adversary as Iemura's shining silver blade cut through his chest.

He could hear the rip of his shihakusho, the screaming of his sinew, the roaring of his skin as Iemura's blade dragged across his chest, going slowly and slowly deeper. Every movement took an eternity as he stumbled back and Iemura's blade left his chest, coated in blood much, much deeper than he was expecting. A drop of the red liquid slung through the air in front of Ichigo's eyes and he thudded to his knees, the pain catching up to his brain and causing him to cry out.

"ICHIGO!" she cried again, but this time it was a cry of despair.

Ichigo stabbed his sword into the dirt and slowly pushed himself up. His head was bent towards the ground, and he saw blood dropping from his chest down to the grass, making the earth soft and wet where his feet were. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Orihime and Tatsuki. Both had their hands pressed to their mouths, and the former looked horrified.

He returned his attention to Iemura. Despite his brief victory, the man was clearly exhausted: his arms were shaking, his grip on the handle of his sword was dangerously tight. Sweat rolled down his face.

Ichigo wasn't in great shape, himself. His body throbbed. He couldn't seem to find the strength to pull Zangetsu from the grass.

_So this is what it's come to,_ he thought grimly.

Something didn't add up to him, however. _He shouldn't be this strong…even with the combat pass. Could I really be this strong? No, it's not possible. Is it?_

_If it is, then why is it so difficult for me to beat him?_

He gave another heave on the sword in the dirt. It came free this time, and he attempted to swing it, but the effort made him groan.

"_Sôten Kishun!"_

Surprised, he gave a start as the warm glow of Orihime's healing powers enveloped him, basking him in orange light. As the humming began and his skin started to knit itself together, he turned to the girl in surprise.

"…Orihime?"

"I don't know?" She looked at her hands in amazement. "It just…slipped out!"

Behind him, Iemura cursed. Ichigo turned back to the blond man, watching his face morph to anger.

"Blast," he muttered. "It's becoming harder…harder to keep up the Kidô…" The man shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'll kill you…before I lose control completely."

He smiled and raised his blade to the orange dome, bringing it down full force. Inside, Ichigo smirked, knowing that it was fruitless – the dome withstood any and all attacks from outside. Sure enough, Iemura was thrown back and landed on the ground in a heap, staring at the electricity still sizzling around his fingers.

"What…"

"That's Orihime's power," Ichigo explained for the man. "No one can get in or out of it." He smiled. "Looks like you're just going to have to sit for a moment, until she brings it down."

"Um…" Her voice was tentative. "And how do I do that, exactly?"

Iemura's mouth slowly morphed into a huge smile. "You just dug your own grave," he said cruelly, before running to attack –

_Orihime and Tatsuki._

Orihime shrilled in alarm, and Ichigo threw himself against the barrier, cursing as he realized just how much information they'd given Iemura. He beat against the dome with all his strength, but it was futile. He could only watch helplessly as Iemura reached the girls, swinging his blade –

Tatsuki leaped into the air and knocked it aside with her foot. Her momentum circled her through the air, and she landed easily in a fighting stance in front of Orihime, her legs locked and her fists balled.

"Not so fast, asshole," she spat at the third seat, who had withdrawn his blade in alarm. "I'm a black belt, highest degree. You're not going to get past me – I can easily crush an oversized, blond, sword-swinging pygmy marmoset like you on a bad day."

"…Pygmy marmoset?" Orihime asked nervously.

Tatsuki grinned momentarily. "Hush, you."

Iemura recovered. "As if, girl. I don't know if you heard, but bound to my blade is the power of Kurosaki Ichigo – your would-be savior that you yourselves trapped with your own power. And no one can beat the power of Kurosaki Ichigo – not even Kurosaki Ichigo himself!"

He raised his blade again and clumsily swatted it through the air. Tatsuki didn't even need to use her feet this time; simply raising her arm and blocking the blade seemed to suffice. She let pain cross her features for less than a second before she closed off her expression once more.

"It's all about the technique," she stated coldly. "You swing your blade like an amateur. Even I could do better than that. If you don't know how to fight, it doesn't matter how strong, it doesn't matter how powerful you are. _You will be crushed."_

"_Tsubaki!"_

Surprised, Tatsuki moved out of the way just in time for the tiny black bullet to zip past her shoulder and lodge itself firmly in the chest of Iemura.

"I wanted to finish it myself," she said. "Thank you for stunning him, Tatsuki – he wouldn't have remembered it otherwise."

Iemura slumped to the ground, out cold. Tsubaki soared back to Orihime's hand, and she cupped his body in her palm. He stood tall and looked at her.

"_Excellent work, woman, if I do say so myself," _the tiny fairy grudgingly praised her. _"For once this battle ended with both of us not within an inch of our lives."_

"What do you mean?" she said.

"_Don't you remember yet? You were the one to crush Iemura. Your memories should soon return."_

From inside the dome, Ichigo watched her face as her eyes widened impossibly. Her hands dropped to her side as the dome around him snapped into nonexistence and the fairies quickly zipped over to the siblings lying in a heap in the grass, opening over them, seemingly even without their mistress's knowledge.

Orihime's mouth moved, and Ichigo remained where he was standing as she mouthed word after word after word.

_Sora…_

_Tatsuki…_

_Chad…_

_Uryû…_

_Ichigo…_

_Rukia…_

_The Soul Society…_

_Ulquiorra…_

_Ichigo…_

_Ichigo…_

"Ichigo," she said, and he took a slow step towards her.

"_I remember," _she said, and ran into his arms.

**Yeah, it's kind of short, but I wanted to end it there.**

**Buh bye! :D**


	14. Walls

**A/N: So this is the last chapter, guys. This is a good place to stop since I'm beginning to drift into Ulquihime and I want to cut my ties to this pairing (temporarily) without ruining the story. **

**Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and "Walls" belongs to All Time Low and whoever the f their label is. :D Speaking of Tite Kubo…WHO READ CHAPTER 485 AND WANTS TO HAVE A LITTLE FANGIRL MOMENT WITH ME?**

**Ahem.**

**Misha: Yay I know right :)**

**moonlightrurouni: Just picture Aizen, like, picking up a phone and being like, "You're welcome, bitch," before slamming it back down. "Jesus Christ," he says. "I wish people would stop THANKING me all the time," and that's when he would get hit by lightning by Jesus for blasphemy or something. **

**foxfang27: If you want to write a follow-up or something, go ahead. :D But this was really just the mystery bit, and I'm not even that good at mysteries. Ahaha. I'm surprised no one guessed it..**

**Magdalena88: Yeah sure, if you want.**

**Veraozao: Yes, together. Kiss.**

**KurosakiCrystal18: YES YES YES YES YES YES YES! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!**

**nypsy: I'm not sure what you mean..**

**MiszIceQueen10: Thanks, btw.**

_I'm gonna break down these walls I built around myself. I wanna fall so in love with you and no one else could ever mean half as much as you to me right now. Together we'll move on, just don't look down and let the walls break down._

"For your crimes against the Soul Society, and the human girl Inoue Orihime, you will be sentenced to a prison sentence of one hundred and fifty years!"

Orihime turned into Ichigo's chest, hiding her face as Ichigo stared impassively at the court, only a twitching eyebrow displaying his irritation. They were in a large court room, having been called in as witnesses for the case against Yasochika Iemura. And now, the man had finally got what was coming to him.

"He should have gotten more," Ichigo said, a crease appearing between his eyebrows.

"It only lasted about two weeks," Tatsuki pointed out from next to him.

He didn't take his eyes away from where Iemura was being taken from the room, held by emotionless security guards who were marching him to his cell. "Still," Ichigo said.

"Are you okay, Orihime?" Tatsuki asked, and Ichigo's arms tightened around her torso, holding her tightly.

"Y-yeah," came her voice, muffled by the black cloth of his shihakusho. "Let's go."

They turned and left the courtroom, Orihime's fingers slipping through Ichigo's and weaving their hands together. As they began to descend the steps, Ichigo nudged Tatsuki and pointed with his free hand.

"Hey, look…"

Orihime and Tatsuki turned their heads, and the three friends on the steps stared openly at the ruby-haired men standing on the steps – one with his hair in a long, wispy braid, one with it pulled up into a pineapple-shaped ponytail. The one with the braid had violet eyes that glittered as he spoke to the other, his mouth closing when the other spoke.

"I think they're making out," Orihime said softly, watching them.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Ichigo and Tatsuki both swung their heads to stare at her. She looked back quizzically, and then seemed to realize what she had said.

"Up! Up! Up!" she cried, her face turning red. She flapped her hands desperately and hopped up and down on the stone steps. "They're making _up!"_

It was too late; the emotional moment was ruined. Her friends couldn't help but make fun of her. "Kinky," Tatsuki commented drily.

"Incest is illegal, right?" Ichigo asked her with a slight grin, both of them ignoring the flustered girl.

"No…." Orihime moaned in despair.

"No, Orihime, I'm pretty sure it is," Tatsuki laughed, punching her playfully on the shoulder.

Ichigo watched as Ronin and Renji embraced briefly, before shaking hands. Renji turned, and the now united brothers turned and walked toward the three on the steps.

"Hey, guys, what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"I came to see you all when you came out, and this little bugger was already here," Renji said. "So we had a little chat, bro to bro, and got everything sorted out."

"Good!" Orihime said cheerfully, a trace of red still lingering on her cheeks.

"So what happened in there?" Ronin asked, pointing to the courthouse. "Did that ass get what was coming to him?"

"He got a hundred and fifty years," Tatsuki said. "If you think that that's what was coming to him, then yes."

"It should have been longer," Ichigo grumbled.

Tatsuki shrugged. "It's all perspective."

"Well, my perspective is that it should have been longer."

"Thank you, Berry-head, you've made that clear," Renji said, smacking Ichigo's head. The orange-haired boy ducked and rubbed his skull, glaring at his taller friend.

"Shut up, Ren-"

"Stop arguing, you two! It's supposed to be a happy day!" Tatsuki exclaimed, throwing her arms wide. She smiled. "Everyone's good and Orihime's back!"

"Yeah!" Orihime cheered. She let go of Ichigo's hand and ran down the steps, her orange hair blowing behind her. When she reached the last couple steps at the bottom, she leapt off and began to spin around in the dirt, her uniform blowing behind her. Tatsuki laughed and raced after her, the two girls spinning wildly until they collapsed on the ground, still laughing.

"Spontaneous spinning rules!" Orihime called, punching her little fist straight up into the air.

Above her, on the steps, the three men stood and watched the girls catch their breath. "She's really something, isn't she?" Ichigo murmured, his eyes on Orihime's smile.

"Definitely," Renji said, unable to move his eyes away.

Words failed Ichigo as he gazed down at the orange-haired girl. _This happy being…she really loved me all this time?_ He shook his head slowly, a small smile reaching his lips. It was almost too much to comprehend.

And yet, as he watched the two girls laughing in the dirt, he knew that she was worth it.

**Information about the songs (Because I was asked for a list)**

**1. "Dog Days Are Over" by ****Florence + The Machine**** on the album **_**Lungs**_** and published by Universal Island Records.**

**2. "Slipped Away" by Avril Lavigne on the album **_**Under My Skin**_** and published by the RCA/JIVE music group.**

**3. "Bleed" by ****Hot Chelle Rae**** on the album **_**Lovesick Electric**_** and published by the RCA/JIVE music group.**

**4. "If I Die Young" by ****The Band Perry**** on the album **_**The Band Perry**_** and published by Nashville Republic.**

**5. "Erase" by MIKA on the album **_**Life in Cartoon Motion**_** and published by Island Records.**

**6. "Little Lion Man" by ****Mumford & Sons**** on the album **_**Sigh No More**_** and published by Chess Club Records.**

**7. "Human" by ****The Killers**** on the album **_**Day & Age**_** and published by Battle Born Studios.**

**8. "Disappear" by ****Hoobastank**** on the album **_**The Reason**_** and published by the Island Def Jam Music Group.**

**9. "Mine" by Christina Perri on the album **_**Lovestrong.**_** and published by the Atlantic Recording Corporation.**

**10. "When The Day Met The Night" by ****Panic! At the Disco**** on the album **_**Pretty. Odd. **_**and published by Fueled By Ramen. **

**11. "Breath" by ****Breaking Benjamin**** on the album **_**Phobia**_** and published by Hollywood Records.**

**12. "This Is War" by ****30 Seconds to Mars**** on the album **_**This Is War**_** and published by Virgin Records.**

**13. "Last One Standing" by ****Hot Chelle Rae**** on the album **_**Lovesick Electric**_** and published by the RCA/JIVE music group.**

**14. "Walls" by ****All Time Low**** on the album **_**Nothing Personal**_** and published by Hopeless Records.**

**Songs that should have gone on but I either didn't think of them or didn't have enough filler chapters:**

"**Here Without You" by ****3 Doors Down**

"**Your Guardian Angel" by ****The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus**

"**Happy Ending" by MIKA**

"**Falling For You" by Colbie Calliat (although the Mia Rose version is better)**

"**Hero/Heroine" by ****Boys Like Girls**

"**About A Girl" by ****The Academy Is…**

"**You're The One" by ****Hoobastank**

"**My Only One" by ****All Time Low**

**-Okay, guys. Thank you time! When I started this, I really had no idea where it was going to go. Many of the "important plotline details" I came up with on the spot. So, since it was so poorly planned out, the huge positive response I received was really stunning to me. I really couldn't have done it without each and every one of you, and you all are the best fans in the world.**

**nypsy**

**Firework's Feelings**

**himelove22**

**Chuain**

**Magdalena88**

**makaykay15**

**midnight03**

**Flower in the River**

**SacredofLove**

**luversblues**

**moonlightrurouni**

**Veraozao**

**HellYus**

**foxfang27**

**MiszIceQueen**

**Seriah. no. saint**

**KurosakiCrystal18**

**m4tigers**

**S0phi3F4wn**

**I think that's everyone. If I missed you send me a PM (anonymous reviewers were not mentioned, although I love you guys too!) And I love all of you so much, thank you again for helping me though the story!**

**Onward! And don't forget to talk to me about chap. 480!**

**-TheCatWithTheHat**


End file.
